The police and crime commissioner for the Thames Valley has responded to calls for more investment to tackle violent crime in Reading.
Matthew Barber came under fire after Reading Labour councillors complained of a reduction in Community Safety Partnership (CSP) funding.
CSPs comprise councils, the police and partner organisations that work together to prevent crime, with each receiving funded by the PCC. In Reading, this has been from £453,128 to £373,411 for the current financial year.
At a housing, neighbourhoods and leisure committee meeting on Wednesday, January 4, Labour councillors raised concerns such as the lack of neighbourhood police in the town, and the decline in funding for Reading’s CSP.
Mr Barber says the councillors have conflated the issues.
“The community safety fund covers all the non-policing work around prevention, with funding allocated based on a formula which takes into account population size and crime levels,” he said.
“I’d like to have more cash to give, if anyone has a better way of dishing out that money I’m very open to views. That formula has been a very fair way of distributing funds over the last couple of years.
“Reading has got more money through other streams, such as the Safer Streets Fund.”
The Conservative continued: “They’re conflating these funding streams with police officer numbers.
“We have more police officers than ever before, and we have a target by the end of April of recruiting more than 700 more officers.
“The 2023/24 budget will secure additional officers to make sure we can increase police numbers as the population increases.”
Mr Barber said Thames Valley Police has held a successful recruitment drives.
According to police statistics between April and September 2022, more than 1,600 police officer applications were received. Seventeen per cent of applicants were from Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic backgrounds, and 38% were women.
Mr Barber added: “They’re saying we want more for Community Safety Partnerships, we want more on the ground and they are two different issues. It’s about getting a balance.
“The police are working with local authorities through community safety partnerships on the preventative work that local authorities can do, versus the issue of police numbers that are determined in the policing budget.”
As well as neighbourhood police specifically assigned in Reading, there are teams that work throughout Berkshire, such as the domestic abuse teams and roads policing officers.
Mr Barber said: “My team are working with the community safety partnership in Reading and are very keen to support that work.”
He is due to appear at a future Reading Borough Council policy committee meeting.
