RESIDENTS in Kent and Medway will have to pay 11p more a week towards improving policing services following a decision made today by the Kent Police Authority.

The authority agreed a police council tax rise of 4.99per cent.

The increase will help Kent Police to continue to invest in neighbourhood policing and give officers more resources to tackle major and serious crime.

A band D household will see an increase from £116.37 to £122.18 – below the national average of £137.

Kent Police Authority members set a budget of £257.9million - £10.6million more than last year - to pay for policing in Kent and Medway. Much of that money comes from the government with council taxpayers funding 29 per cent.

Before today’s meeting Kent Police Authority asked the public if they supported an increase – two thirds agreed. The authority had also considered a smaller increase but this would have led to cuts in police services.

A range of improvements will be made in major and serious crime, for example murder and terrorism. Money will be invested to refurbish the former police station at Chatham for use as a dedicated countywide murder inquiry centre for detectives and support staff.

The authority is also setting aside money to refurbish a rigid inflatable boat to use as a specialist police patrol vessel that will be based at Sheerness. The 57-foot boat will regularly patrol the coastline.

The increase will also create extra police officer and support staff posts to deal with major and serious crimes and counter-terrorism work.

Fifty of these will be funded by the rise with the remaining 60 being allocated internally through re-organisation.

Neighbourhood policing will continue to be rolled out across the county as both the authority and force are committed to having a named officer in every community by April 2008.

Kent Police currently has 109 police community support officers. The ‘Your Neighbourhood’ service on the Kent Police website allows people to find out who their local officer is and how to contact them.

Last year the Kent Police Authority was disappointed at the Home Office decision to significantly reduce the number of police community support officers.

The authority had originally budgeted for 474 by April 2008. Now Kent and Medway will only have funding for 273 posts. The authority and force are currently looking at options to plug this gap.

Ann Barnes, chair of the Kent Police Authority, said: “We decided last year that we would only fund two areas of growth over the next two years, neighbourhood policing and major and serious crime. We are now in the second phase of this programme and it’s hugely encouraging that the people of Kent and Medway agreed the rise.

"I’m very much aware that if we had increased the council tax in line with the national average then we would be have some £9million more to spend on our police force.

“I know this is not much comfort to people on tight budgets but our police council tax bill is very low when you look at the big picture of just how much other parts of the country have to pay.

"The average council tax bill is £137 and even with our increase of £5.81 the bill for Kent will still only be £122.18.

“We are going to have to prepare as future years are going to be tight. The budget settlement from the government is obviously disappointing and the reduction in funding for police community support officers has hit us hard.

"But we will overcome this and work to ensure that the taxpayer gets the best possible value for money.”

Chief Constable Mike Fuller said: “I’m pleased the authority has made the decision of a 4.99% increase. This will allow growth in neighbourhood policing and major and serious crime.

"If we had received anything less than this it would be extremely difficult to maintain our current level of service. This of course would be disastrous for the force and our service delivery, crime levels and public trust and confidence.

"The funds we have for this year will still leave us with difficulties as demand continues to increase. It has been a testing time with the Tonbridge robbery, a number of murders and increased government legislation.

"Over the last year alone we dealt with an additional 17,982 incidents compared with 2005. It will be a challenge but I remain confident that we can deliver a policing service that will meet the needs of the people of Kent and Medway.”