A CRIME commissioner is asking residents if they would pay 1.99 per cent more for their police force.

Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner Vera Baird is considering a 1.99 per cent rise in the police precept for 2015-16 – the highest allowed without a costly local referendum.

The move would generate an extra £630,000 for the force.

A 1.99 per cent increase would mean a rise of 2p per week for Band A householders, taking the weekly charge to £1.13.

The other options are a 1.5 per cent rise and freezing the precept, which would mean the force getting a government grant of £389,000.

Ms Baird, the former Redcar MP, is consulting and wants to hear residents’ views.

“Our force has suffered tremendously from Government cuts to grants with £45.8m lost in the past four years and a further £11.8m lost this year.

“The financial challenge the force faces now is its worst, though the Chief Constable and I are doing our very best to preserve the high standards of policing that we are sued to here,” she said.

Consultation takes place online at surveymonkey.com/r/policeprecept until Saturday, January 31, and a final decision will be taken during February.