West Mercia Police plan £4.5m raid on reserves to boost budget

The cash will be used on new technology, tackling sexual exploitation of children, creating a new police station for Shrewsbury and protecting others from closure.

Police and crime commissioner John Campion today said the force has more than £50 million in reserves. He says it is about time that money is used to help people.

Mr Campion has also proposed that the policing element of the council tax should be frozen for the next 12 months.

Nearly £33m has been earmarked for replacing the outdated police stations in Shrewsbury and Hereford.

Mr Campion said the main police station at Shrewsbury, which opened in 1973, was not fit for modern policing needs.

He said he would be looking at the possibility of sharing a new building with other services.

Mr Campion added that he did not envisage any more police stations closing over the next 12 months.

His draft budget for the 2017/8 financial year will now go out to public consultation.

Proposing a 2.2 per cent increase to the police budget, he said protecting vulnerable people, including those who had been subjected to sexual exploitation in Telford, was a key priority.

At the moment the force holds £50.7m in reserves, and Mr Campion said it was time some of that money was spent on policing.

He added that the force treasurer recommended a minimum reserve of just £14.5m.

Mr Campion said: "My budget proposals include positive investments designed to improve police visibility in our communities, ensure better customer service and protect our most vulnerable.

"It will also provide new fit-for- purpose technology."

A fresh start for West Mercia Police

People could be forgiven for asking "where's the catch?"

While brutal cuts, talk of council tax increases and demands for fairer funding seem to be the buzz words of most civic leaders at the moment, John Campion's first budget since being elected as West Mercia police and crime commissioner in May sounds almost too good to be true.

A freeze in council tax, more bobbies on the beat and an extra £4.5 million will leave many wondering whether Mr Campion has secretly won the lottery. Certainly, it makes a pleasant change in this supposed age of austerity.

If you have followed all the vexation and worry about the squeeze on the funding of West Mercia Police, the force which covers Shropshire, you may be surprised to learn that there is a huge pile of cash in the force's reserves.

There is a lot you can do with £50.7 million. But while it is banked it is out of reach, and in these days of pathetic interest rates banked cash is languishing in the coffers rather than doing work. It is an inert financial lump, a wad of cash under the pillow which may give a measure of reassurance, but surely a slice of it could be exploited for better things.

There can be a debate about what is the appropriate figure that an organisation like a police force or a council should keep as a strategic reserve for a rainy day. John Campion, the police and crime commissioner for West Mercia, thinks that rainy day has come now, or at least believes the reserves are so high that he can raid the kitty for £10m without any problem.

Doing so would mean that the force's budget would go up by £4.5m, when compared with the current year. Key priority in using the extra cash would be protecting vulnerable people, including victims of sexual exploitation, and other aimsthings would include beefing up new technology.

His draft budget also proposes drawing up plans for a new main police station in Shrewsbury.

This is a change of tone from that of financial retreat and retrenchment. Mr Campion sees his idea as a way of achieving desirable objectives without having to put up the policing element of the council tax, while still keeping an acceptable and prudent amount in the kitty for future eventualities.

A lot of people will agree with him. Being cautious is not in itself a bad thing, but in this case this is public money which belongs to the public, through being spent for their benefit.

Of course, Mr Campion hasn't won the lottery. The extra investment will come out of the £50.7 million which the force has built up in its reserves over the past few years, and the new commissioner is banking on the extra spending leading to increased efficiencies that will save money in the long-term. If he can pull it off, it is win-win, for all concerned.

"Every year the police force receives an income from both central government and the council taxpayer, and there has not been enough scrutiny in West Mercia of how it is spent," says Mr Campion

"That money has been underspent year-on-year, and I think the communities of West Mercia are entitled to expect it to be spent on policing."

The reserves are certainly big. At more than £50 million, they are more than three-and-a-half times the minimum recommended by the force treasurer. The commissioner is proposing to use £30.87 million of this over the next four years on supplementing existing budgets.

Mr Campion's proposals for 2017/18, which the public will now be invited to comment on, are for the budget to increase from £207.6 million to just under £212.2 million. This includes £120 million from central government, £82 million from council tax, and £10 million which will be taken out reserves. But the money can only be taken out of the reserves once, so how will Mr Campion ensure the long-term sustainability of the force?

Since taking office, the commissioner has undertaken a detailed review of the budgets, and says he has identified savings of £10.7 million a year.

Technology will play a major role. For example, £100,000 has been set aside to install telematic equipment in police vehicles which monitors driving habits. A similar scheme in West Yorkshire has been attributed in cutting damage to police vehicles by 34 per cent, as well as saving fuel.

Equipping officers with equipment such as smart phones, laptop computers and tablets are expected to save the force £3.5 million a year, allowing them to deal with the "paperwork" while out in the community, rather than having to return to the police station. He says the outdated telephone system is also in desperate need of replacement.

"We are replacing outdated equipment which is clunky and expensive to run, with modern technology which will save money," says Mr Campion, who at 40 is one of the youngest commissioners in the country.

"Other police forces have been doing this for years. The technological revolution has passed West Mercia by."

After years of seeing smaller police stations close – over the past three years, police stations at Albrighton, Cleobury Mortimer, Craven Arms, Ellesmere, Newport, Much Wenlock and Shifnal have all been lost – Mr Campion has also pledged to invest in new police building.

The budget has set aside £36.2 million to replace the outdated police stations at Shrewsbury and Hereford, with the intention being to work with other services to create "multi-agency" bases.

Plans had already been drawn up under Mr Campion's predecessor Bill Longmore for a joint police and fire station building in Herefordshire, and the new commissioner says he would like to see a similar scheme to replace the station at Monkmoor in Shrewsbury, which opened in 1973.

"The station at Monkmoor is outdated and not fit for purpose," he says.

"Like we are doing in Hereford, I would like to see us working with our partners, be it the other blue-light services, or the local authority.

"There is a lot to be said for organisations which work together being next to each other."

Mr Campion says he expects to see clear plans for the new police station within 12 months. He added that he did not envisage the closure of any more police stations.

Mr Campion says that more resources will also be directed at protecting vulnerable people – including children at risk of sexual exploitation. Money will be spent on training staff – both officers and civilians – in spotting the signs of abuse.

Last year Telford was branded the "child sex capital of the UK" following Operation Chalice – which saw seven men jailed for a total of nearly 50 years for their part in a child sex ring. Mr Campion says the issue is a top priority.

"There is no doubt that the sexual exploitation of children goes on in communities up and down the country, including Telford," he says. "I think spotting the signs is very important, as in the case of the child sexual exploitation that happened in Telford, some of the victims displayed signs which had not been picked up."

New staff – both officers and civilians – will be recruited to meet these challenges, although the overall numbers will not increase.

"We will be taking on new people, but there will also be natural wastage as people leave the force as well," he says.

The budget has also factored in extra costs including pay and price inflation, which is expected to account for £4.7 million, the Government's apprenticeship levy which will cost £500,000, and increased pension costs of £1.5 million.

Mr Campion says that he promised major reform and modernisation in the run-up to the election, and that is precisely what the public will get.

"My budget proposals include major positive investments designed to improve police visibility in our communities, ensure better customer service and protect our most vulnerable people," he says.

"It will also provide new fit-for-purpose technology that will bring it up to date and in-line with other forces in the UK, giving our officers the tools they need to do their difficult jobs better."