About 200 extra police officers set to employed across Leicestershire

Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland will have 2,104 police officers by spring next year, the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Lord Willy Bach has pledged.

To help bankroll the boost to the force Lord Bach wants Band D Council Tax payers to fork out just another £10 a year.

The Commissioner will present his final budget to the Police and Crime Panel on Wednesday (Feb 5).

Lord Bach will tell members he’s making good his vow to recruit more bobbies to fight crime across Leicestershire.

The Commissioner wants to draft in 100 new officers in 2020-21 on top of the 107 taken on in 2019-20.

That’s in addition to the 89 to be delivered as part of year one of the Government’s scheme to recruit an extra 20,000 officers nationwide.

Lord Bach, the former mayor of Lutterworth, also aims to hire another 20 Police Community Support Officers.

He said people are keen to see “more proactive local policing” countywide.

“People want community-based policing, providing solutions to the problems that they face in their neighbourhoods.

“They want to know their neighbourhood officers,” insisted Lord Bach, who lives near Lutterworth.

“And that is what they are going to get.”

The Leicestershire Police net budget requirement for 2020-21 is almost £200 million.

To help raise that huge figure the force has to rake in nearly £77 million from Council Taxpayers.

The Home Office has said: “We propose to empower PCCs to increase their Band D precept by up to £10 in 2020/21 without the need to call for a local referendum, the equivalent of less than 20p per week.”

So Lord Bach is recommending a Band D increase of £10 for 2020-21 to pay for more police.

“The Government’s headline-grabbing figures include the anticipated growth derived from local taxpayers via their council tax and fail to account for challenges such as growth in population, inflation and the ever-changing complexity of criminality.

“Whilst much has been made of the 20,000 police officers from Operation Uplift, even when – or if – these are all funded, recruited and in situ by 2023 we will still not be back to the numbers of 2010,” said the former criminal barrister.

“Leicestershire Police lost 550 officers as a result of the funding cuts.

“In 2006 we had one officer per 430 residents.

“Today, with the cuts and significant growth in population, we currently have one officer per 600-plus residents and we also tackle an increasingly complex set of challenges, risks and threats.

“The financial conundrum has not been solved yet!”