Last chance to have your say on police funding increase

You probably ignore this question each year from Cheshire’s Police & Crime Commissioner – but you should respond, favourably or otherwise, if you want/don’t want to see an increase in your council tax.

The usual pattern is that very few residents respond to the online consultation – last year just a few hundred responded – with a small majority in favour. Which resulted in the PCC’s office claiming they had the full support of Cheshire residents to increase their budget.

It doesn’t sound much does it – a couple of pounds a month for band D properties? But last year it increased the police precept by 13%.

Multiply that £24 a year by the number of council tax paying residents in Cheshire East and Cheshire West – plus all the business – and it represents a huge increase.

Even with our friends at Google trying to find the cost of running the PCC’s office alone has proved tricky – but we’re guessing anywhere between £3m and £5m – and I for one don’t believe the PCC’s office provides any value for money.

My own experiences with Cheshire Police over the past few years leads me to believe that it’s not fit for purpose. Even with the excessive funding they already receive they have proved to be unwilling to investigate serious crime issues if there’s any effort involved.

Several officers I’ve been involved with have lied and comprehensively failed in their duty – and their superiors couldn’t care less.

If you want to understand my increasing concerns about the state of policing in this country and my resistance to increasing their funding check out https://youtu.be/YUuZMyqhUUk It’s evident that laws are being created by the police – not parliament – and the police are now the arbiters of law, speech and even thought. George Orwell saw it coming.

You don’t need to ask how I’ll be voting.

Despite the claims, the police & crime commissioner’s precept went up by 13.8% for 2019/20

You should do whatever you think is right – but make your voice heard – one way or the other.

Cheshire residents can also give their views by completing a survey on the Cheshire PCC website: https://www.cheshire-pcc.gov.uk/get-involved/public-consultation/open-consultations/precept-consultation-2020-21/

The consultation closes at midnight on Sunday 26 January 2020.