Policing costs

28 January 2010, 12:05 | Updated: 28 January 2010, 12:14

Thames Valley Police are asking us how much we're prepared to pay for policing over the next year.

An online survey's been set up to help the force find out how interested we are in investing in the police.

If the amount we pay through our council tax doesn't go up, the Thames Valley Police Authority think the force could have to get rid of more than forty officers.

They're recommending a 2% increase in the amount we pay for the police through our council tax.  That would work out as just over £3 extra over the course of a year for a Band D home, taking the annual police council tax bill for a Band D home to just over £154.  It would fund a planned increase of 15 officers across the Thames Valley.

Hazel Bell from the Thames Valley Police Authority has been telling Heart: "We are working very hard to work as efficiently as we can and we're making lots of savings in other areas, but we do need to increase the policing council tax to pay for additional officers."

She's also told us there are pressures on the force, like inflation, that mean keeping their total pot of money static isn't an option.

"Pay is expected to increase by a certain percentage and we have a very large number of officers and staff and that's a national agreement that we have no control over," she said.  "So, to maintain the service we would have to increase the budget by two per cent."

View the Thames Valley policing survey