Third of schools in Merseyside to get own police

Feb 21 2008

Exam hall

A THIRD of secondary schools in Merseyside will have a dedicated police officer after plans to increase police ranks by 100 were approved.

Currently around 20% of the region’s 116 secondary schools have a police officer, that will increase to about one third with the extra officers.

The change came as Merseyside Police Authority agreed to increase its section of Council Tax by 5% - which will add £4.25 per year to the typical bill.

It means those in band A will pay £89.27 a year from April for policing, and those in band D will pay £133.91 - an increase of £6.38.

The extra 100 police officers will come from making the posts of 20 existing officers permanent and 80 new positions.

The officers will be deployed across the following areas: 69 in neighbourhoods and schools; 17 to form a new gun crime syndicate; seven extra officers in the regional crime unit;

four in road policing; and three for the high tech crime and abusive images units.

Yesterday’s (Thur Feb 21) decision will bring the total number of police officers on Merseyside up to 4,557 by the end of the next financial year.

In 2005 the authority set the target of having an additional 600 officers, yesterday’s decision means that 410 of that target will have been delivered.

Merseyside Police Authority chairman Cllr Bill Weightman, said: “The people of Merseyside have told us time and again they want to see more police on the streets.

“The decision made by Merseyside Police Authority to invest in an extra 100 officers shows that we’re not only listening to our communities, but acting on what they tell us.

“Putting 69 extra police officers into neighbourhoods and schools is also evidence of our continued commitment to partnership working, and our increased contribution to providing efficient and effective community safety across the boroughs of Merseyside.

“And we’re not just putting extra officers in place and hoping that we’ll see results. The extra resources come with challenging targets.

“This year crime on Merseyside is down by 18%, the biggest reduction in the country, and next year we expect to see crime driven down even further.”

Chief Constable Bernard Hogan-Howe, said: “This is fantastic news. We are very grateful to the police authority and local authorities for helping us to recruit extra officers