How would you spend Lincolnshire Police's shrinking budget?

The county’s Police and Crime Commissioner, Marc Jones, has launched a comprehensive survey in the run up to setting next year’s budget for Lincolnshire Police, asking the public to offer their policing priorities and their own personal experience of crime.

The Lincolnshire Crime and Policing Survey is a ten-minute questionnaire covering issues ranging from people’s actual experience of crime versus their fear of crime to where they would deploy extra officers if they were available and force funding.

It is hoped the survey will attract enough response to be able to analyse what people of different ages, and from different districts, think about policing and crime.

The PCC will not be told the level of grant his office – which funds both the police force and victims services – will receive until mid-December.

The money from Whitehall makes up around 50 per cent of the overall amount of funding for services, with the rest coming from Council Tax.

Mr Jones has travelled to London several times in the past months, and spoken several times to ministers and civil servants, to make the case for fairer funding for Lincolnshire.

A budget will be developed once grant levels are revealed but the PCC intends the survey to help guide some of the funding priorities and decisions.

“The role of the Police and Crime Commissioner is to ensure the views and priorities of the communities of Lincolnshire are reflected in the way our great county is policed,” said Mr Jones.

“It is a role I am passionate about and take very seriously. That is why I have launched this survey – the most comprehensive ever conducted by a PCC in Lincolnshire.

“It is absolutely vital that the tax payers of Lincolnshire play a crucial role in deciding how their own community is policed and to ensure we make the decisions that reflect their views we first need to understand them.”

The survey is planned to take place across the whole of December. To take part in the survey go to https://www.research.net/r/PCCLincs or call 01522 581420.

* Tell us if you would do things differently when spending the police’s budget. Email: [email protected]