STEMMING the flow of experienced officers is a key priority for Surrey Police and Crime Commissioner David Munro, who has just has published an annual report for his first year in post.

The number of bobbies on the beat has plummeted nationally, according to the public. Just 22 per cent said they feel officers are highly visible, according to the latest Crime Survey for England and Wales, which looks at the period from April last year to March this year.

It follows a survey last year, which found that one in three people in England and Wales has not seen a bobby on the beat in their local area in the past year.

Mr Munro’s report highlights the difficulty of retaining experienced officers as “one of the biggest issues currently for the force”, and due in part to the higher cost of living in Surrey.

To try and stem the flow, Surrey Chief Constable Nick Ephgrave is paying a South East allowance of £500 a year to officers, and improving the workplace through various programmes, such as Surrey and Sussex’s People Plan, which sets out how the two forces value, develop and support staff.

Surrey Police force has implemented a new model of policing called Policing In Your Neighbourhood (PiYN) and is working hard to ensure it is fully staffed.

Surrey Police’s latest quarterly survey of residents, its Joint Neighbourhood Survey (JNS), revealed the percentage agreeing the force deals with anti-social behaviour and crimes that matter in their area, dropped from 78.7 per cent last year to 75.9 per cent.

The positive outcome rate for vulnerable victims of crime has improved in key areas of child abuse, up from 23 per cent to 31 per cent, and sexual offences, up from 14 per cent to 17 per cent.

However the positive outcome rate for domestic abuse, which has the biggest volume, has fallen from 29 per cent to 26 per cent.

A review of the current police funding formula is due in October and Mr Munro has written to Mike Penning, Minister of State for Policing, to highlight “just how little” Surrey receives in terms of central government funding - 46 per cent - compared with the 54 per cent being raised direct from Surrey residents through the council tax precept.

He objected it was “very unfair” that Surrey residents, who already contribute probably more tax income to the Treasury than residents of any other county in England or Wales, get so little back in terms of central funding to help pay for their own police force.

Despite the cash squeeze, funding has been agreed for two further Joint Enforcement Teams in Waverley and Guildford, increasing the overall number to five in Surrey. Working collaboratively with local councils, the teams tackle local issues such as noise, fly-tipping and anti-social behaviour.

New kit has been introduced to help Surrey Police officers do their job more effectively, including body-worn video, state-of-the-art drones and more tasers. Surrey and Sussex Police acquired four new drones in April 2016, having been awarded almost £250,000 by the Home Office’s Police Innovation Fund, the most owned by any force in the UK.

Surrey Police will increase the numbers of officers using tasers from 167 to 569, after the new X2 device was approved by the Home Office. The new model records considerably more detail about its usage, creating a more detailed audit trail and has a number of new features aimed at increasing accuracy.

From April 2018, the Public Order Training Unit will begin to prepare the infrastructure to support the X2 by purchasing the new devices, upgrading computer software, organising training and converting existing taser safes to fit the differently shaped device.

More than 150 body-worn video cameras were distributed to policing teams across Waverley and Guildford boroughs from December 2016 and are now being rolled out across the rest of the county. They will increase the transparency and the accountability of the force and also increase early guilty pleas, due to digital evidence.

Mr Munro’s 2016/17 report details how he has met his statutory responsibilities and the progress made against the six objectives in his Police and Crime Plan.

It also covers the performance of Surrey Police for 2016/17, including their official watchdog inspections, and sets out how funding has been allocated to commission services through the PCC funds.

“There have been some real positives during my first year in post and I have been impressed by the dedication, attitude and professionalism shown by the officers and staff I’ve met who often work in difficult and challenging circumstances,” he said.

“I was particularly pleased with the substantial improvements in both protecting vulnerable people and the performance of the non-emergency 101 number. This came at a time when the force had also implemented PiYN, which is continuing to bed in.

“There is always room for improvement however. The force has experienced difficulty in the retention of experienced officers, which remains a concern, while we have seen rises in some crime areas, particularly domestic burglary.”

• Defendants in Surrey are being handed stiffer sentences because they have committed a hate crime motivated by prejudice.

A total of 24 criminal sentences were “uplifted” in Surrey between January and March this year.

Crimes which are eligible for an uplifted sentence are any that are motivated “wholly or partly” by hostility based on perceived religion, race, sexual orientation or disability.

The increased sentences ranged from extended prison terms to longer community punishments, depending on the crime.

Jaswant Narwal, Chief Crown Prosecutor, said: “These longer sentences are a powerful way of sending the message that hate crime is viewed very seriously in the eyes of the law. I would encourage all victims to report hate crimes as we can and do make every effort to ensure that those responsible are held fully accountable and these examples highlight ways in which this happens in Surrey every day.”