Police funding falls as crime rockets
Government funding for the region's police forces has dropped by millions over the last three years, leaving taxpayers to pick up the bill.
New figures from the Home Office show that Government funding for West Midlands Police and Staffordshire Police dropped by two per cent between their budgets for the 2015-16 and 2018-19 financial years.
The decrease was even larger in real terms when inflation is taken into account, and came despite crime rocketing across the region by 13 per cent.
Over the same period, the amount of funding received through council tax – the other main source of revenue for the force – increased massively. It went up by 28 per cent for WMP and 14 per cent for Staffordshire Police.
Last year the Home Office gave police and crime commissioners the green light to increase the council tax police precept by around 10 per cent.
The Police Federation of England and Wales said that the reduced Government funding had led directly to reduced services and large pay cuts.
In the West Midlands last year £444 million of funding came from the Government, and £90 million from the council tax precept. For Staffordshire the figures were £117m and £66m respectively.
Calum Macleod, chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, said: “Policing has taken a huge financial hit from this Government – cutbacks that have seen many forces cut the services they can offer to the public and the near decimation of neighbourhood policing.
“Police officers put themselves in harm’s way day in, day out, and yet the only investment they get from government is nice words and photo opportunities.”
West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) David Jamieson has been calling for increased police funding for years.
He said rising crime levels highlighted the 'short-sighted approach of the Government by continuing to apply real-terms cuts to police forces' funding at a time when the pressures on policing are increasing'.
"This is hampering the ability of the police to keep people safe," he added.
Across England and Wales every force except for the City of London has seen a decrease in government funding. Meanwhile, money raised through council tax for police forces increased by an average of 17 per cent.
A Home Office spokesman said that raising funds through council tax allowed PCCs the opportunity to control their own revenue.
Home Secretary Sajid Javid has vowed to make police funding a priority at the next spending review this autumn.
