PCC FACTCHECK : Paying more for less in St Ives

Police & Crime Commissioner Jason Ablewhite is at it again. In the Hunts Post 10 January 2019 he's asking for an increase of £24 a year in the police element of our council tax. And in running a 'survey' he's using the classic choice trick to get what he wants.

Faced with increases of £4, £24 or £120 a year, he's hoping you won't be mean nor extravagant, going for his recommendation of £24. Mr Ablewhite's choice of £24 is not driven by careful budget calculation. It's the maximum he can request without having to run an expensive public referendum.

If you opt for the cheapest £4 increase, in his survey Mr Ablewhite says there'll be a loss of 80 police officers due to 'unavoidable increases in cost, eg insurance'. Wait a minute... by his calculations £4 is a 2% increase in funding. Inflation is currently running at 2%. So how can an inflation matching increase mean a loss of 80 officers, effectively 8% of front line officers?

Mr Ablewhite ran a 'survey' last year to get a £12 increase (+6.4%) in funding for an extra 55 officers. So how is that going? Not very well for St Ives, it seems. For 2017/18 we had 2 police officers and almost 7 PCSOs allocated solely to St Ives. Currently there's 1 police officer and 7 PCSOs covering St Ives, Ramsey and everywhere in between. That appears to be a reduction in resources of at least 2.

At the same time Mr Ablewhite is proposing to decriminalise parking. In other words, less work for our police officers to do. Would we spot the difference? There's little evidence of any effort to solve the blight of illegal parking in Bridge Street and other areas of St Ives. One afternoon a week on an ad hoc basis to book everyone would make such a difference, but our local police can't even manage that. According to Mr Ablewhite, they're all tied up solving cyber crime.

The simple question needing an answer is this. St Ives & Ramsey policing area pays for 50 front line police officers. We have 8. Where are the other 42, Mr Ablewhite?

You can respond to the survey and opt for the £4 option by clicking here.