A proposed 4.98 per cent increase in the council tax precept for Essex Police would fund 184 more officers, the police, fire and crime commissioner has said.

The news comes as the commissioner outlines the budget proposals for 2021/22. The rise would mean an extra £9.90 a year for a Band D property, taking the total to £208.53 per year for the police precept.

There is no planned rise to fund the fire service, as funding from current reserves has been included in the budget to cover that.

Roger Hirst, Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Essex, said: "As a country we are under intense financial pressure, and every penny we spend needs to make a difference. We also need to set out clearly what the public can expect to see as a result of this extra funding.

"I have been through the budgets for both services with the Chief Officers and am convinced that this extra investment is required to get the result we want.

"We have also continued to improve the efficiency of both services and the Essex Police budget alone includes £3.5million additional efficiency savings that will be reinvested in the frontline."

Mr Hirst added: "Over the last few years, we have provided the funding to enable Essex Police to recruit more than 500 extra officers. These officers have strengthened our response to serious violence, exploitation and gangs, they have transformed our community policing teams, introduced Town Centre Teams, the Rural Crime Team and the Business Crime Team and shifted the focus of policing in our county from managing demand to proactively preventing crime.

"This has resulted in significant reductions in burglary, theft and anti-social behaviour and early signs that we are successfully fighting back against the scourge of violent crime in our communities. It is working. This budget will take that increase to over 700 additional officers.

"We know times are tough so we will not use all the precept increase permitted for policing or increase the precept for the fire and rescue service. We will use the proportion we need, so we can continue our fight to push down crime and create the communities we all need to prosper."

The budget proposals will be considered by the Essex Police, Fire and Crime Panel which meets on Thursday, 4 February.

The full papers for the meeting and budget proposals can be viewed via the link here.

A summary of the main points of the proposed 2021/22 budget:

Essex Police:

-184 more police officers, taking the force up to 3,553 full-time officers – an overall growth of 703 police officers since May 2016

-of those extra officers, 30 will be part of a serious violence team – doubling the size of the existing team targeting County Lines and drug gangs, 22 officers will form a domestic abuse problem solving team, working with repeat victims and perpetrators to break the cycle of domestic abuse, 14 officers for a proactive domestic team to work alongside current domestic abuse investigation teams, 14 officers to work within an offender management team, focussed on preventing harm caused by sexual offenders.

-there will also be three extra dog handlers, the creation of district policing area disruption teams plus increased support to the major crime team, people trafficking, modern slavery, road crime, organised crime, missing persons, crime prevention, firearms, professional standards, driver training, taser training plus investment in data protection, IT systems and a federation officer to support officers.

Essex County Fire and Rescue Service:

The commissioner proposes no increase in the precept, therefore the precept on a Band D property is to remain at £73.89. This is in recognition of the impact of the current economic climate resulting from the Covid pandemic.

However, key investments will still go ahead in:

-fire protection in response to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry

-learning and development of service staff

-ICT – updating systems and hardware to improve productivity and connectivity.