Surrey Police is one of the fastest improving forces in the country.
Over the last year, the Force has doubled criminal charges, made over 2,500 more arrests and seen dramatic improvements in tackling crimes such as burglary, shoplifting, child abuse and rape.
But in order to maintain this momentum, protect victims and continue to make our communities even safer, we need the support of the Surrey public.
That is why I am inviting you to fill in our survey and have your say on the level of council tax you would be prepared to pay to provide vital support to policing in the county over the coming year.
One of my key responsibilities as PCC is to set the overall budget for Surrey Police. That includes determining the level of council tax raised for policing in the county, known as the precept, which funds the Force together with a grant from central government.
In December, the Government announced their policing settlement for the next financial year which includes the level of precept Police and Crime Commissioners can ask the public to pay. They have assumed that this year we will increase that precept by the maximum £14 per Band D property that they have set. This equates to £1.16 a month on an average household or 4.3% across all council tax bands.
I am under no illusions that many people’s finances are stretched and asking people to pay more money for their policing is one the most difficult decisions I have to make as Commissioner.
But the reality is that government funding will cover some of our increased costs but not all of them and we must make up a shortfall in both the pay increase for police officers and the rise in employers' National Insurance contributions.
When I set the budget last year, I pledged that Surrey residents’ precept contributions would be focused on what policing does best - fighting crime in our local communities, getting tough on offenders and protecting people. The progress we have seen over the last 12 months has been really impressive and I don’t want to see that hard work undone.
Surrey Police must find around £18m in savings over the next four years and any further gap in funding will likely mean cuts to the workforce and a reduction to some services the public value the most - such as taking calls, investigating crimes and detaining suspects.
Our policing teams do a fantastic job keeping our communities safe and my question is simple - would you be willing to pay a little over a pound a month extra to ensure they build on the brilliant progress made over the last year and continue to take the fight to criminals in your community?
So please do take a couple of minutes to fill in my survey and have your say on policing funding in Surrey. For more information do visit the council tax page on my website here.
Thank you.
Lisa Townsend
Police and Crime Commissioner for Surrey