Essex Police is set to receive an extra £15million from Essex council tax payers to help fund an additional 215 officers.

Roger Hirst, the PFCC for Essex, is proposing a council tax precept increase of 14.16%, equivalent to an increase of £23.94 a year from £169.02 to £192.96 for a Band D property, raising £15.3m of additional council tax receipts.

The proposal, which has to be given approval from the Police, Fire and Crime Panel when it meets on January 24, would help fund the recruitment of an additional 215 officers and 32 police staff helping increase the police officer strength from 3,000 to 3,215 by March 2020.

Of these 215 extra officers, 68 will be assigned to Town Centre Teams where they directly support the Chief Constable’s operational priorities of violence, victims, vulnerability and visibility.

Mr Hirst said: “It is essential that the progress made last year in addressing the acute financial challenges and the operational and public challenge to do more to secure a more visible, local and preventative police force is continued into the future.

“With Essex Police focusing its main efforts on tackling violence and vulnerability, supporting victims and being a more visible presence in support to Police and Crime Plan priorities, I believe this investment will make Essex an even safer county than it is today. It is for these reasons that I make a strong recommendation that an increase in the policing precept as outlined above is essential.”

Mr Hirst will also be proposing raising £1,321 of additional council tax receipts for Essex Fire and Rescue from a precept increase of 2.94 per cent – equivalent to an increase of £2.07 a year from £70.38 to £72.45 for a band D council tax property.