Council reveals plan to fund four additional police officers in Royal Borough

Concerns have been raised over how the plan to introduce four new police officers in the Royal Borough – using council money – will pan out in practical terms.

In its 2023/24 budget, the borough has earmarked £240,000 a year to fund four additional police officers to support neighbourhood policing across the Royal Borough.

This is an agreement they have undertaken with Thames Valley Police, beginning in April.

The idea is these officers will tackle issues surround-ing the night-time economy, illegal street activity and other anti-social behaviour.

They will also work in support of the proposed new RBWM Environmental Crime Enforcement Unit addressing environmental issues and fly-tipping.

These four additional officers will be deployed as part of the RBWM Neighbourhood Policing Team (NHPT). This will increase the number of RBWM NHPT Police Officers by 50 per cent.

Councillor David Cannon, cabinet member for anti-social behaviour, crime and public protection, said on Facebook that the officers will be ‘ring fenced to remain on RBWM NHPT’ and will be tasked jointly by the police and the council to address the borough’s residents’ priorities.

Soon after this announcement, concerns were raised by opposition councillors who wondered how it is being funded, and why the cost of this is not covered by the police precept.

The police precept is the specific money paid as part of council tax that goes towards paying for local policing services.

Council leader Andrew Johnson expressed frustration at the response on Twitter, saying: “Honestly I thought that adding an extra, clue is in the word extra, four police constables onto the streets of Windsor and Maidenhead to keep residents safe would receive cross party support. Very sad to see seemingly only the Conservatives locally are genuinely tough on crime!”

In addition, Cllr Lynne Jones (OWRA, Old Windsor) flagged concerns over how the plan for the officers will pan out.

“There’s been no report on this,” she said. “Are these officers going to be instructed by the council? If they’re not, how do we measure the outcomes?

“£240,000 is a fair sum we’re spending – it needs to be an evidenced decision. I have not seen a business case for this.”

She queried why these officers would be better than community wardens. The cutting of these roles has caused controversy in the past.

Cllr David Hilton, cabinet member for finance, said one of the principal differences was in the powers of community wardens versus neighbourhood police.

“There is a love of community wardens but they have no ability to arrest people – if they get into that situation, they have to call the police,” he said.

“People say, ‘We want someone with the authority to come and stop people doing what they’re doing.’”

Cllr Hilton added that these officers won’t be pulled away to attend to incidents elsewhere – they will focus on the borough.

“People have said that you can’t get an officer down to Wraysbury – this will change that,” he said.

“Our relationship with the police is going to improve considerably, become more dynamic.”

Matthew Barber, Police and Crime Commissioner for Thames Valley, answered queries on the funding and outlined the broader police priorities.

“In my budget set out last month I announced 80 additional community police officers across the Thames Valley to boost neighbourhood policing.

“I am ensuring that on top of dealing with the pressures of inflation, this additional investment is going into more police officers and improvements to 101 and digital contact.

“The [four] officers [in Windsor and Maidenhead] will be focused on local neighbourhood policing, providing resources over and above that which would otherwise have been possible and remaining under the control of the local area commander.”

He said this is the first arrangement of its kind in Thames Valley relating to police officers, though similar arrangements have been in place for many years regarding PCSOs.

Other police forces have also made such arrangements for police officers ‘successfully’.