Dorset Police force receives less funding per head of population than any other county in England. Police authorities receive their funding through a combination of government grants, business rate income (set, collected and distributed by central government) and council tax. Government grant makes up the bulk of this. This is calculated by the Home Office according to a specific formula which weighs up a number of factors including social deprivation, density of population, security requirements and pensions expenditure.
Last year, there was an increase in government grant of around 3.1% significantly below the average. So not only is Dorset Police force the worst funded, it is falling further behind. Furthermore, its capital grant (providing funds for essential things like computers, buildings and vehicles) has been slashed by £300 000. The reasoning for this was to help pay for the proposed merger of police forces; an imprudent measure that it appears won’t happen anyway. And though there have been specific grants for assets like community support officers introduced, these have not been guaranteed beyond 2008. This could mean that the county commits itself to future expenditure without the means to pay for it.
The greatest problem lies within the government’s formula. It fails to take sufficient account for some crucial aspects of Dorset policing, particularly those attached to Bournemouth’s burgeoning nightlife. The huge numbers converging on its bars often bring violent crime and disrupt political order. To be fair, recent changes have been made in the formula to offset factors such as net inflows per resident population, population density and sparsity and the number of bars per 100 hectares. However, the Liberal Democrats believe that the formula still fails to give sufficient weight to many issues and we have our doubts about local policing being run by central government fiat.
Even after these changes, the Dorset Police force is woefully underfunded. Many forces receive the ‘Area Cost Adjustment’ (ACA) grant which supplements salaries. Both Hampshire and Wiltshire forces receive this. With police officers being paid the same salary in these forces, it seems a trifle bizarre that Dorset does not obtain the same treatment. With house prices as they are in the county, there seems little case for our neighbouring counties receiving favourable treatment.
This all has the effect of hiking up your Council Tax. Pay and other unavoidable increases went up 3.0% (or £3 million) for the force last year, whilst the government grant went up just £1.8 million. This shortfall has to be picked up by the already stretched Council Tax payer – a tax, lest it be forgotten, that is unfair and unpopular. In fact, the police element of the Council Tax has risen by 4.9%.
Annette Brooke, Liberal Democrat MP for Mid Dorset and North Poole, said, “I am full of admiration for the work of our police force, particularly given their extremely limited funding. However, many people have written to me about crime in the area and I really think we need more ‘bobbies on the beat’. Only with a visible police presence can we hope to make people think again before they break the law. Our police force is not getting a fair deal and I will not rest until they get it”.
Residents can add their voices to the debate by signing the Liberal Democrat petition on the issue. Doubtlessly, something needs to be done in the near future or the whims of bureaucrats in the Home Office will continue to hurt our police force and, by extension, the local people.
