West Lindsey District Council is advocating for increased funding for Lincolnshire Police to strengthen community-focused policing efforts and enhance public safety.
Councillors unanimously supported a motion at its full council meeting on (Monday, 4 November). It calls upon local and national officials to support funding that enables Lincolnshire Police to restore the principles of neighbourhood policing established in 1829 by Sir Robert Peel, the founder of modern policing.
Cllr Stephen Bunney who put forward the motion, reflected on Sir Robert Peel’s vision for the Metropolitan Police, which emphasised the need for police officers to build trust within their communities, focusing on preventing crime and disorder through public engagement rather than punitive measures.
He also referenced how early police leaders Charles Rowan and Richard Mayne underscored the importance of officers being visible in communities, working collaboratively to promote community well-being over solely detecting crime.
Peel’s model has inspired Chief Constable Paul Gibson’s current Making Lincolnshire Safe Strategy 2024-25, which prioritises neighbourhood policing as a pathway to building public confidence and reducing crime.
Cllr Bunney said the strategy had worthwhile aspirations, but they were ‘not being fully met across our district’.
He said:
“The limited number of officers and resources available focusing on detecting and solving serious crime – leaving precious few resources and individuals to carry out ‘preventative work’.
“In some areas, levels are so low that neighbourhood teams are providing minimal part -time cover for less than half the week, hardly working with the police to bring about community safety and welfare. In fact, it harbours the opposite.
“Residents do not have confidence in the force and so do not report issues etc, taking the attitude there’s no point as there’s no officers to deal with a concern anyway.”
However, the council notes that inadequate funding threatens the fulfilment of these objectives in Lincolnshire, which has the least funded force in the country with the third lowest number of officers per 1 ,000 head of population.
Cllr Bunney added:
“This is detrimental to our low-density rural area where the numbers of officers per head of population need to be higher than the national average to compensate for the time taken travelling between communities and to visit the myriad of hamlets and ‘isolated’ standalone properties.
The motion was debated by councillors and was seconded by Cllr Paul Howitt-Cowan.
He said:
“We had the police come to Overview and Scrutiny Committee only a few weeks ago. One of the things we learned was that there was a suspicion of underreporting and it’s so important that we report incidents because that will help to give support to our police to reinforce the vigilance by the police on the ground. It’s so important that we report all incidents.”
This Council resolved to instruct the Chief Executive, Leader and Chairman to write:
- To the Chief Constable and Police Commissioner to support their lobbying for fairer funding for Lincolnshire police to ensure that they can establish and sustain a truly preventative Neighbourhood Policing Structure, alongside an effective detection service, enhancing community safety and well-being in our District.
- To petition The Home Office and Treasury to provide a realistic funding formula to allow Lincolnshire police to carry out the preventative policing principles laid down by Peel, Rowan and Mayer in 1829 alongside the justice system functions of crime detection.
For more information about the council’s meetings and agenda’s please visit out website: Council Democracy