YOU reported Phil Willis's latest attempt to treat the North Yorkshire Police Authority (NYPA) as his personal "Aunt Sally": this time for its commitment to prudent, contingency planning (February 27).

The same edition featured a fifth anniversary commemoration of the Great Heck disaster: the irony was not lost on this former NYPA member. NYPA lacked the financial resources to police another incident on the Great Heck scale. Treasury funding reimbursing some - not all - such disaster expenditure is not repaid immediately, so a significant cash-flow crisis was inevitable. The police authority identified its governance obligations: to establish and maintain sustainable strategic financial reserves.

Significant political courage was demanded when NYPA members called on residents to raise expenditure and commit to modern policing in the authority's 2003 budget. Policing had been funded on an unsustainable shoestring, which saw the "if it ain't bust, don't fix it" approach become an art form.

Under-funding only worked if:

crime, and perception of crime, did not increase;

modernising communications and IT was avoided;

force pension obligations were ignored.

The game was up when the Home Office imposed similar costing projects on all forces in 2003-04. In percentage terms, this impacted most on the smaller-funded forces, so certainly here.

Dilemma: Government generates "bright ideas" demanding immediate funding without the Treasury underwriting the cost. So if the Government doesn't fund its plans, then police authorities must bill local residents. Hobson's choice!

That 76 per cent police precept hike targeted immediate expenditure dictated by central Government. It was also required to underwrite NYPA's police pensions obligation, to peak by 2008; underwrite continuous improvement to police equipment; and enable flexible development of the force's future policing capability.

Nick Blitz,

South Lane,

Haxby,

York.

Updated: 10:45 Friday, March 03, 2006