PCC: More police officers will be axed if council tax is not raised
West Midlands Police will have to cut officer numbers even further if council tax is not raised, the Police and Crime Commissioner has warned.
PCC David Jamieson is currently consulting on raising the police's council tax precept by £24 per Band D property for the 2019/20 financial year.
He warned a meeting today that more officers would have to be cut if the council tax increase did not go ahead due to the financial constraints West Midlands Police was being put under by central government.
He said: "Government funding does not match the huge increases in pension costs that they have placed on West Midlands Police and inflationary pressures we are facing. This means that to plug the gap in police funding the government have essentially mandated Commissioners to increase the council tax by the maximum amount, or cut officer numbers even further.
"Officer numbers will only be able to increase if the Chief Constable and I continue to take difficult decisions and deliver further efficiencies."
Mr Jamieson described the government's police budget as a 'standstill' for his force, as effectively no new money has been made available to spend on officers and services.
