Households across the Isle of Wight could soon be paying an additional £15 a year on their Council Tax to help fund Hampshire Constabulary.
Olivia Pinkey, Chief Constable of Hampshire Constabulary, has asked officials to increase the Police precept by £15 per house, (Band D) or 7.1% to help fund Policing across the region. This would be in addition to the anticipated 5% rise in Council Tax from the Isle of Wight Council in 2021/22.
With the budget for policing being set at the end of the month, Chief Constable Olivia Pinkney has made a case to the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC), Michael Lane, for more funding for her force.
The PCC undertook a consultation to see whether residents would agree on the increase that would see Band D properties paying £15 more a year.
On the Isle of Wight, 64% agreed with the increase, 5% were unsure and 31% said they would not support the increase.
The Chief Constable said the local investment was needed to help maintain services but also provide more, taking the fight to the criminals, proactively preventing and investigating crime.
If the budget were to be increased, CC Pinkney said new officers could be seen on the Island. She said:
“The sooner we can get them in, the sooner I can train them and have them out on the Island.”
Article continues below this advertisement “Islanders will be able to see and be there in their own community.
“I want to be able to investigate more local crimes; we have to make choices, like other public agencies, about what is affordable and I want to be able to do more — it is something the public really ask for and I really want for us to be able to meet that need.
“I also want to stop crime from happening in the first place — preventing crimes, particularly with the 18 to 24 year-olds on the Island who, as well as in lots of places, can get themselves caught up in things.
“That is what we want to stop. We can reduce crime by focusing on them.”
Across Hampshire and the Island, CC Pinkney said her teams would also be able to help safeguard an additional 12,000 vulnerable people if the increase were to go ahead, and especially with the impact of COVID-19, where safety may not be found at home, she said they “really need to double our efforts”.
The increase in funding will also help further disrupt organised crime and so-called ‘county lines’ drug dealing offences but also help clear the backlog in the criminal justice system.
The Hampshire and Isle of Wight Police and Crime Panel will decide the budget for 2021/22 at its meeting on 29th January.
They should get rid of the Police commissioners. Would save huge amount of money, removing this unnecessary political layer.
What drivel half the time they don’t turn up at crimes and if they do don’t do very much except for going through the motions. They couldn’t even stop people from travelling to the Island to go drinking or should that be didn’t stop people. And where do they get these bs figures I have lived on the Island for over 50 years and have never been consulted on any issue so who do they ask. If it was for NHS workers I would pay another £15 a month not per year because they are worth every penny.
I would like more details regarding the “consultation”. How many people were asked? What period did it cover? Who came up with the idea of £15? Would it not help towards democratization if the people of Wight were consulted on ballot papers during elections? As things stand at present this charge amounts to taxation without representation.
So an extra £15 and still do nothing to deter speeding on the Island. Not even worth a mention by the Chief Constable. Sick to death of hearing boy racers night after night.
Not just at night, anytime of day… dangerous driving, and there are a few without registration plates on them !!
how about you actually do the job you are already being paid for instead of sponging off everyone else and having your begging bowl out for more – no better than the beggars on the street.
no increases are needed you leeches
Pointless having more Police if the courts don’t sentence anything they put before them.
Well ,seem too be over run with coppers at mo but just for covid lol.there was funding given for covid…why t h can’t gov give on a normal basis then huh.bloody joke.making us pay more for what us s hit n miss attendants.we don’t and wont get any more better service!
£15more .f cheek.
At first I thought its was a Male police officer wearing lipstick in the photo and then I read the article and it’s a lady officer.
Great insight David :/ …not sure what you had to add to the conversation there?
The reference to Pinkey is a typo.
And?
Did you mean “A female officer” ?
Many of us have suffered a loss of, or a reduced income this year as a result of coronavirus and have had to tighten our belts accordingly. Why can’t the Old Bill do the same? 7.1% my a**e. Get real.
Why give them more money, all the do is hide in the stations all the time, I have not seen a police officer or pcso patrol Sandown for nearly a year. No time to deal with theft so go out and pinch what you want and they do everything to avoid turning up when you need them
Who were the idiots that were consulted, probably Hampshire residents not Island ones, if they did their job and protected the Island then it would be worth it but to do nothing about enforcing covid rules, is just enough to say NO NO NO to any increase. If anything we should be getting a rebate for lack of service. 2 cars have a minor collision every police person on the island attends, and then they have to call in the crash investigation team from the mainland to sort it, in the mean time the officers practice dad dancing, and they want us to pay more for this. Get Real!
This should come out of the extra money that the Island council steals from us each year.
The force is top heavy with higher pay office dwellers. Sussex put the flags out when Pinkney moved to Winchester.
What happened to that multi million pound Eastleigh HQ? More wasted tax money. Now they want more for fancy gadgets!
What on earth does ‘safeguarding an extra 12,000 vulnerable people’ mean? This is just nonsensical bureaucrat speak using a big number to appear impressive – any additional money given will certainly never be directed to the sort of policing the people paying for it consider to be policing, it will simply go on pursuing minority issues or diversity initiatives or fighting climate change or pandering to whatever new woke political cause is the flavour of the day in Whitehall, certainly not to helping fight the traditional definition of crime
Outrageous.. they do not do what needs to be done as it is…. used to be many police on this Island, now just a skeleton crew that are only interested in armed offences and drugs. They do not care much about road users, or those that ride noisy motorbikes around the side streets of the towns with no particular place to go.. Police have it too easy I think at present..
Pray tell, What does a Cheif Constable actually do ?? Sit behind a desk and do what..? While the underlings are about doing as little policework as possible..
So this coming from the chief constable that did nothing for a long time about the disgraceful way her racist poorly behaved officers conducted themselves. Thus ending on PCC inquiries and not reflecting on her leadership or management at all well. It would be wise for this supposed chief constable to actually get out her plans out in the open before asking for more money. After all where has the money gone from all the officers that were gone under a cloud? What are her plans. At the moment all you see is a few police officers being run ragged by poor organisation at the top. The public want a guarantee of what and how she proposes to spend the money and evidence it is being used for what she is claiming!! No you can’t have more money!
This year they want more money as the same as every year previous for what, nothing more than to cover wage increases . Get in the real world where as my wife band 6 at st marys has had pennies per hour pay rise for the last 3 years ,disgusting
Is it not funny that last week we were all up in arms that the council tax was going up again.
The council tax was going up to cover covid black whole .
Now the spot light is off the council and onto the police.
So last time I asked for every one to contacted our MP and ask what happened to that money.
How many did it ?
Come on people stop moaning on here and put pen to paper .the technology you have in your hand can be used as well .
So most of us have time on our hands ,so use that time positively and do something .
What a fucking joke the council have all ready put the council tax up last year and they had a pay rise as well how much more have we got to pay there is alot of people losing jobs due to the pandemic and poverty in this country
The PCC undertook a consultation.
I call on island echo to publish this so called consultation. I for one would not have agreed to this and find it difficult to believe that a majority of people would.
Council tax has gone up year on year and services across the island have gone down. More ad more people have lost here jobs and are financially struggling at the moment so to ask council tax payers for more money is a disgrace. If you want to make savings get rid of the Crime Commissioner position.
Prove to me this consulataion agreed to this.