Rayleigh and Wickford MP Mark Francois praised the Essex Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, Roger Hirst, in the House of Commons recently for increasing the policing precept to finance an extra 150 new police officers across the county.
During the debate on Police Funding, Mark raised the point with the Policing Minister, Nick Hurd MP, that Roger Hirst had conducted a survey across Essex, to ask if residents would be prepared to pay a little more council tax to fund extra police, which received clear support throughout the county.
During the debate, Mark said:
“On the behalf of my constituents, I thank the Minister for allowing greater flexibility in the police precept. In Essex, our excellent police, crime and fire commissioner, Roger Hirst, has taken full advantage of the precept, so that we will now be reinforced by an extra 150 police officers, which will take the Essex constabulary back up to 3,000 police, and we warmly welcome them.”