WARRINGON-based Cheshire Police and Crime Commissioner David Keane has “serious concerns” about further savings the police are required to make over the next two years.
In his annual report, Mr Keane says Cheshire Police carried out significant work to make savings of £5.4 million over the last 12 months.
But he adds: ““I have serious concerns about further savings we will be required to make by government over the next two years, and as a listening and campaigning commissioner, I will continue to press government on your behalf for fair and sustainable funding to ensure we can continue to keep Cheshire residents safe”.
Mr Keane said the past year had been one of change, but he had been able to make significant changes to the way the police and his own team worked to ensure they were serving the public to the best of their ability in a climate were resources were increasingly under pressure.
His report details how the commissioner is holding the chief constable to account and is managing to balance the books on police funding – both in regards to reductions in funding and the increased complexity of the crimes police are tackling.
Mr Keane says one of his major achievements has been to provide a PCSO and police community base for every community in Cheshire as part of his commitments to “provide a police service connected with its communities” and one that “prevents crime and anti-social behavior”.
It also details the funding the commissioner has provided to victim services to help victims of crime recover from their ordeal as part of his ‘support victims and protect the vulnerable’ commitment and how he’s invested in new technology and supported staff development and become a Living Wage employer to provide “a police service fit for the future”.
The commissioner adds: “My focus for 2018/19, my third year in office, will remain around creating even safer communities through a strong focus on neighbourhood policing”.
The full report is available to read on the commissioner’s website https://www.cheshire-pcc.gov.uk/media/198472/annual-report-2017-18.pdf Hard copies are available on request from the commissioner’s office at Stockton Heath Police Station.
Cllr David Keane
PCC’s concerns over savings the police must make
22 Comments
2 Comments
What do most people ask for when asked about the police? Usually, its more bobbies on the beat. If the police are that strapped for cash, wouldn’t they do better to concentrate on that rather than having officers spending so much time on social media.
Most people are appalled at the way teenagers (and others!) wander the streets with their noses stuck in their mobile phones. Do we have to have police officers doing the same thing?
Use new technology by all means – but not for the idiotic gossip that appears on most of the many social media accounts the police have set up!
PCCs seem to have insinuated themselves into the role previously occupied by Chief Constables. I suppose it was inevitable when Mrs May decided to politicise Policing to the extent she has/did. That does not make it any more acceptable. Politics and Policing have all the affinity of oil and water. Politicians seem to believe that because they are there by virtue of electors voting for them, they are somehow endowed with enhanced wisdom and intellect. They never consider the extent of their own fallibility or inadequacy.