The Labour and Cooperative Party candidate in the forthcoming Lincolnshire Police and Crime Commissioner election is promising to take a £25,000 annual pay cut and put the money into frontline policing.
Roseanne Kirk, 50, known as Rosie, says if elected this would mean £100,000 invested over the four-year term of office.
She would scrap the unelected deputy PCC role to save £72,000 over four years to help tackle rural crime.
And she pledges to keep council tax low by pressing Westminster to pay more for policing in Lincolnshire – with the possibility of millions of pounds of additional funding.
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Rosie, who is a City of Lincoln councillor for Birchwood, said: “I promise to never take from the people of Lincolnshire.
“So in solidarity, I am announcing if elected that on the first day in office I shall cut my wage by £25,000 a year from £65,000 to £40,000, putting £100,000 directly into frontline policing over my four year term.
“I would also remove the unelected deputy, investing the £72,000 saved over four years into dealing with rural crime complaints.”
She accused the incumbent PCC Marc Jones of wanting to make people pay by taxing them the “maximum 5.9 per cent” for the policing element of the council tax.
“I pledge to keep your taxes low by making Westminster pay,” she added.
“We could be owed millions and if Lincolnshire got the same funding arrangement as Derbyshire, we would get approximately £55 million extra per year.”
“Something is fundamentally wrong in the system for the people of Lincolnshire and this is why I am standing to be Police and Crime Commissioner.
“We’ve seen our political elites use our public money like toilet paper, and at the same time Lincolnshire Police could be owed millions of pounds by London.
“But Westminster doesn’t want to give us a fair funding formula and with those in power silent, what can we do? Well, I say enough is enough.”
Rosie promises to “fight for and listen to all of Lincolnshire”, especially the “forgotten about villages and rural communities that don’t feel they get justice from the police”.
She said: “This disaster is highlighted by the Countryside Alliance who report that nearly half of people in our rural communities have had a crime committed against them, 98 per cent feel crime is an issue, and 62 per cent of people don’t think rural policing has improved since Police and Crime Commissioners were introduced in 2012.
“This is frankly a national embarrassment.”
Rosie’ eight-point charter for a fairer Lincolnshire also includes more visible neighbourhood police to stamp out “the blight of illicit drug usage”, and improve place conditions for police officers and staff.
She also pledges to ensure that offenders are brought to justice, as well as more investment in community services to provide opportunities for young people and prevent re-offending.
Rosie added that she is proud to call Lincolnshire home and described it as “the undiscovered gem in England”.
She said: “Over twenty years ago I moved here, raised a family and fell in love with the county.
“I cherish those beautiful countryside walks, the friendliness of our people and our unique character as a region.”
Police and Crime Commissioners were elected for the second time on the May 5 2016 in 40 police force areas across England and Wales.
Their role involves hiring and firing chief constables, holding the police to account, setting the budget and council tax precept, and determining policing and crime-fighting objectives.
-- to www.lincolnshirelive.co.uk
