It's going to cost us

MICK Brighton doesn't mince his words. Even without the huge burden placed upon police resources by pensions, North Yorkshire police would be financially in "deep ****", he says.

As it is, with the combined effect of pensions, historic under-funding, the rising costs of running a modern police force and the steady decrease in the proportion of police funding provided by central government, the chickens are really coming home to roost. "The sky is black with chickens," he says.

The language used by the Labour councillor's Liberal Democrat colleague on North Yorkshire Police Authority Nick Blitz is less colourful, but the message is the same. If we want a police service we can be proud of, we're going to have to pay for it.

The two City of York Council representatives on the police authority have invited me in to show me a few figures, and explain why the police are so strapped for cash. It amounts to the beginning of a campaign for the hearts and minds of the people of York and North Yorkshire - an attempt to persuade them that a first class police force is worth paying for.

Four financial options have been presented to the police authority by Chief Constable Della Cannings. All of them budget for recruiting and training 120 new police officers - mainly to replace those retiring or leaving, although the force's strength is expected to increase by 40. It is elsewhere the differences appear.

The cheapest option would see a 34.5 per cent increase in the police precept - the proportion of council tax that goes on police - in North Yorkshire. For someone living in a Band D property, that would see the police element of their council tax bill going up from £88.59 to £119.20 a year.

This is described by the two York police authority members as the 'standstill' option: it would allow the North Yorkshire force to meet its legal commitments, but little more. And by failing to invest further in the future, it would run the risk of allowing the force to turn into a "failing force" a few years down the line.

The most expensive option would see a 74 per cent increase in the precept, pushing the police element of a Band D council tax up to £154 a year. This would allow for investment in information technology to improve "intelligence-led" policing, upgrading of police custody suites in York, Selby and elsewhere, extra cash for undercover work and for the final warning scheme for young offenders, and more money for schemes such as drug-testing and "proactive" policing. And much more.

In between, there are also two intermediate options, which would see the precept rise by 44 per cent and 66.75 per cent respectively. All this on the back of a 41 per cent rise in this year's police precept.

In real terms, stresses Nick Blitz, even a 74 per cent increase to £154 a year for a Band D property would represent pretty good value. "Policing is a form of insurance," he says. "What's your chance of getting household insurance for that for a Band D property? Nil."

A fair point. But the question everybody will want answering, Mick Brighton agrees, is why local people should be faced with paying at least 35 per cent more for their police service when the rate of inflation is less than three per cent?

There are many reasons, but four stand out:

the rising cost of police pensions;

the transfer of responsibility for funding the police away from central government towards local government;

historic underfunding locally of the North Yorkshire force;

and the increased costs of running a modern police force, including the need to implement a number of new Government initiatives.

Pensions have been a problem for the police since the end of the Second World War, Nick Blitz says. At the moment, 17 per cent of the entire North Yorkshire police budget (£96.6 million this year) is eaten up by pension payments. And with retirements set to peak in 2008, that is going to grow steadily over the next few years. Home Secretary David Blunkett would not bite the bullet and find a long-term solution to the problem. "So it is pushing us more and more on to local resources."

It is the same pattern with central government funding of the police service generally, the Liberal Democrat councillor claims.

A couple of years ago, the proportion of the police budget funded out of council tax was about 12 per cent. Next year it will be approaching 50 per cent.

"We are not being required to pay more income tax, so we are being called upon to pay for it locally. It is a form of regional taxation."

It's not only the Lib Dems saying that, either: Labour councillor Mick Brighton agrees glumly that it is true.

Just because the Government won't pay for local policing doesn't stop it telling local police forces what to do, however. Local forces are being required to implement a raft of new initiatives, for example on criminal justice reform. That, together with the increased cost of policing today's sophisticated, hi-tech world, puts additional strains on the budget.

Not all the problems stem from central government, however; some are of North Yorkshire's own making. In the early 1990s, says Nick Blitz, the county council, which was then responsible for the police, was in lean, mean, efficient mode: priding itself on keeping council taxes as low as it could. But the upshot was a low-cost police force run on a shoestring, says Mick Brighton - for which we are paying now.

There is going to be plenty of belly-aching at the prospect of having to pay more, both men agree. But there is no choice.

DURING the next four to five weeks, they and their colleagues on the police authority will be canvassing local views. Both clearly feel that simply going for the cheapest option would be under-selling the police.

"It would be just to stand still and meet our legal obligations, just to do what the police service is obliged to do," says Nick Blitz. "There would be nothing there at all in terms of improving the police."

Ultimately, it may come down to a 'pick and mix' approach, where police authority members cherry pick elements from each of the four options. Precisely what can be achieved will depend on how much local people are willing to pay, admits Mick Brighton.

That is what the police authority will be trying to find out over the next few weeks, before making a final decision on the budget on February 10.

So now is the time to make your views known. "We will feed in the input from York," says Mick Brighton. "We don't want people in York to say we did not know it was coming. At least they will have a chance to comment."

To let Councillors Brighton and Blitz know your views, email them on nypa.members@york.gov.uk or write to NYPA Members, Guildhall, York.

Updated: 13:06 Wednesday, December 11, 2002