Council tax rise of just 1pc would put bobbies on beat

A ONE per cent weekly rise in council tax could help fix neighbourhood policing in England and Wales, a think tank has said in a report.

Onward said police forces in England and Wales need to recruit 19,000 neighbourhood officers to restore numbers to 2012 levels. The think tank said it would meet the public demand for more visible policing to help curb persistent crimes, such as anti-social behaviour, theft and burglary.

The Government has added 20,000 more police officers in the past three years, but the number covering local neighbourhood beats is still 10 per cent down on 2012.

Onward urged the Government to scrap the current £13 cap on council tax increases to allow local authorities to raise it by 45p a week to pay for two new local officers in taxpayers’ neighbourhoods. James Cleverly, the Home Secretary, said: “Officers should be focusing on core policing on the beat and visible in their areas.

“Whilst we may not support every one of their proposals, I welcome the thinking Onward has provoked and encourage policing to read it carefully.”

According to the report, police community support officer numbers are down 45 per cent, while the level of special constables has plummeted by two thirds (66 per cent) since 2012. It found the public did not feel safer despite falling overall crime rates, partly because of a decline in neighbourhood policing.

Only 11 per cent of people saw weekly police foot patrols in 2022, compared with 26 per cent in 2011.

The proportion of the public experiencing anti-social behaviour has increased by a fifth since 2012, despite reports to the police falling 55 percentage points. Onward urged the hiring of 3,000 neighbourhood police officers, 10,000 police community support officers and 6,000 special constables in the next five years, at a cost of nearly £600 million a year.