Bobbies on beat pledge

More bobbies on the beat are promised across Powys in the coming year - and it will cost the average county tax payer just 15p a week more.The Dyfed-Powys Police force has just settled its budget for 2008/9. Priority plans for the way the money is spent should mean more police patrols on the county’s roads and more officers out on the beat.

The budget was set following talks in London and Cardiff in a bid to get more cash from the Government.

Andrew Bevan, the Dyfed-Powys force’s director of finance and resources, said the overall budget had been developed over a period of many months and had involved intense lobbying of MPs and AMs to ensure Dyfed-Powys was getting a fair deal.

The force’s total expenditure for the coming year has been calculated at £86.97 million.

A main priority for the police during 2008/9 will be patrolling road and clamping down on criminals using the network across Wales.

Acting Chief Constable Andrew Edwards said: “This will principally be taken forward through the implementation and positive use of static and mobile automatic number plate recognition systems around the force.

“Another area highlighted for significant investment is the provision of mobile data facilities to front line officers, allowing them to spend more time on the beat and less time in stations, something the public are keen to see.”

Dyfed-Powys Police Authority chairman Alisdair Kenwright said: “The budget amounts to an increase in expenditure of less than four per cent and includes some notable investment in key frontline services.

“This means a council tax increase of just £7.83 a year on a Band D property.”