ESSEX Police Chief Constable Roger Baker is reported to be raising funds through sponsorship by local businesses.

Fair enough, but why won’t our police ask us, the tax payers, to provide the funds needed for the police service that we, the members of the public, keep asking for?

At a public meeting called by the Essex Police Authority on May 24 last year, the chairman of the Essex Police Authority, Robert Chambers, is minuted as saying that residents would be asked if they were prepared to pay additional sums to have extra police on the beat.

This idea was welcomed by many in the audience.

At a later meeting we were told that we would not be asked.

One wonders, therefore, what the Essex Police Authority actually does since they are clearly deaf to the views of the public whom we thought they were supposed to be serving.

In the leaflet ‘Council Tax Details 2007-08’, we were told that the budget requirement of some £240m equated to £145.64 per head of the population.

From this, I calculate that one extra police constable, at the quoted cost of £40,000, would cost some 2.4p per annum per head of population. Thus 100 extra police would cost £2.40 per head per annum.

Or, a further 1,200 police on the beat would cost us £2.40 per month per head of population and that is now taking in money from business. So when can we expect the Essex Police Authority to start listening to the public that they purport to serve?

Roger Griffiths, Hillcrest Road, Loughton.