Posted: Mon 27th Jan 2020

Updated: Wed 26th Feb

Rise in cop cash

North Wales news and information
This article is old - Published: Monday, Jan 27th, 2020

Council tax payers could be asked to find another 25p a week to help fund the fight against drug dealers, fraudsters and paedophiles.
North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner Arfon Jones will ask for the cash – which gives the force an extra £4m on top of last year’s police precept of £81m – at the Police and Crime Panel meeting this Friday.
Mr Jones says he will use the money to fight county lines drug dealers, hunt down paedophiles and set up a new economic fraud unit to fight financial crime.
Mr Jones said: “I believe the proposed increase strikes a proper and prudent balance between affordability for council tax payers and making sure North Wales Police can continue to be an efficient and effective force making the region one of the safest places to live in the UK and protecting the vulnerable.”
The commissioner said the new economic crime unit was needed to tackle the “growing number of fraud causes”.
The 4.5% increase in the portion of council tax used to help fund North Wales Police works out to a yearly increase of £12.51 for each tax payer.
The increase comes on top of around £8.6m extra for the force awarded by the UK Government for the next financial year. In total North Wales Police will have £166.8m at its disposal to fight crime in the coming year.
The force has also been promised more than 60 new officers  as central government looks to counter critics who accused it of under-investing in policing over the past 10 years.
As part of the commissioner’s budget more than £4m will be spent on IT and equipment used in combating online crime, including detecting and monitoring online predators via its cyber crime unit. New body worn cameras for officers are also being promised.
The Police and Crime Panel meets on Friday, January 31, at 10am in Conwy council’s Bodlondeb offices.

By Jez Hemming – Local Democracy Reporter



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