Kevin Hurley, Police and Crime Commissioner for Surrey, has expressed his concerns about the low levels of funding Surrey Police receive in comparison to other forces.
Surrey Police receive the second lowest grant from the Government of all police forces in England and Wales. Although Policing Minister, Damien Green, had stated that a full review of the Police Allocation Formula would be commissioned by the Home Secretary, this will not occur before the next General Election in 2015.
Kevin Hurley said:
“Surrey Police only receives around half of its funding from the Government, whilst forces in other areas receive significantly more. Surrey residents have to make up the difference by paying more in council tax. The reasons for this inequality do not reflect modern policing. We have spent 18 months working with MPs and petitioning the Government to review the unfair formula used to allocate money to the police force.”
Despite low levels of Government funding, he went on to comment on the successes over the last year:
“I must emphasise that Surrey Police have made great strides in dealing with the current round of cuts forced upon them. Crime is down, arrests are up and offences solved are increasing across the board. I’m pleased to say that your local police are performing very well.”
“I will continue to campaign for fairer funding from Surrey Police and will continue plans to make savings to protect front-line staff as much as we can.”
Kevin Hurley will be holding Crime Summits across Surrey later in the year, where you can learn more about his plans and give your views.