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Difficult times lay ahead for Essex Police as the Police, Fire and Crime Panel prepare to meet to decide upon the amount the county’s taxpayers contribute to policing in Essex.
Chief Constable BJ Harrington said Essex Police had done all it could to fight for a fair funding deal, to make efficiency savings to plug a funding gap and to try to find alternative solutions to sustain our current level of operational policing in the county.
The panel will meet to decide the amount the people of Essex pay for their police next month.
However, even if the precept is set at the maximum amount of £14, the force will still face a residual £5m gap in its budget.
This mean that a number of difficult options will be presented to the panel in order to plug the funding gap.
Regrettably the options will include:
In short – everyone employed by Essex Police will be impacted in some way.
Reducing officer numbers was considered but given the conditions of government grant funding this would require a loss of 216 police officer posts and this is simply not viable if Essex Police is to maintain the improvements in public safety we have achieved.
Since 2016/17 Essex Police has made savings of £62m as well as £18m of efficiency savings since 2019, all of which has been reinvested back into frontline policing activity.
Additionally, despite being the eighth largest force in England and Wales per head of population, the force is the third worst funded as a result of how the policing funding formula works.
Despite these challenges our force has worked hard to keep our communities safe with nearly 10,500 fewer crimes recorded in Essex in 2024 compared to 2023.
Knife crime, violence against women and girls, domestic abuse, vehicle crime and anti-social behaviour offences all saw decreases in the last year.
Chief Constable BJ Harrington said:
“I’ve said repeatedly for the last few months that all I want is fair funding for a force that is already efficient – delivering tens of millions in savings over the last decade – driving down crime and working hard to keep our communities safe.
“Despite our extensive efforts to balance the books for the next financial year, we still have a shortfall.
“The only thing left therefore that we can look at is reducing our people – that is the position that no Chief Constable wants to be in. I know our communities do not want to see this either, but financially there is nowhere left for us to go.
“I must be clear that police staff, as well as police officers, play a vital role in keeping our communities safe – one cannot function without the other. But I have to consider public safety in all of our proposals and reducing officer numbers by 216 is not a viable option.
“But out plans do, regrettably, impact our entire workforce in some way and whilst those plans are unpalatable on every level, I have tried my best to be fair to all, officers, staff and the public alike.
“I as Chief Constable and we as Essex Police are on the same page as the government, we all want more officers on our streets – but these things can’t happen without the appropriate funding and sadly there is just not enough money in the pot.”
Due to a shortfall in the level of government funding allocated to Essex Police and despite plans to raise the council tax precept for policing to the maximum amount, Essex Police still faces a budget gap of more than £5m.
Chief Constable BJ Harrington said:
“From the headlines we have all seen, regrettably I know many Chief Constables find themselves in my position.
“Like my colleagues across the country, every day I see the courage, commitment, dogged determination and brilliance of my officers and staff.
“But without the right level of funding I can’t keep all of them and we cannot keep doing more with less. I hope the people of Essex understand and continue to support us during these difficult times – we will need that support now more than ever.”