"I want to stop crime."

That is the stark reasoning from the Chief Constable of Hampshire as she asks officials to increase the police precept by £15 per house, or 7.1 per cent.

With the budget for policing being set at the end of the month, Chief Constable Olivia Pinkney has made a case to the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC), Michael Lane, for more funding for her force.

The PCC undertook a consultation to see whether residents would agree on the increase that would see Band D properties paying £15 more a year.

On the Isle of Wight, 64 per cent agreed with the increase, five per cent were unsure and 31 per cent said they would not support the increase.

The chief constable said the local investment was needed to help maintain services but also provide more, taking the fight to the criminals, proactively preventing and investigating crime.

If the budget were to be increased, CC Pinkney said new officers could be seen on the Island.

She said: "The sooner we can get them in, the sooner I can train them and have them out on the Island."

"Islanders will be able to see and be there in their own community," she said.

"I want to be able to investigate more local crimes; we have to make choices, like other public agencies, about what is affordable and I want to be able to do more — it is something the public really ask for and I really want for us to be able to meet that need.

"I also want to stop crime from happening in the first place — preventing crimes, particularly with the 18 to 24 year-olds on the Island who, as well as in lots of places, can get themselves caught up in things.

"That is what we want to stop. We can reduce crime by focusing on them."

Find out more details about what the increased precept could provide here.

Across Hampshire and the Island, CC Pinkney said her teams would also be able to help safeguard an additional 12,000 vulnerable people if the increase were to go ahead, and especially with the impact of Covid-19, where safety may not be found at home, she said they "really need to double our efforts".

The increase in funding will also help further disrupt organised crime and so-called 'county lines' drug dealing offences but also help clear the backlog in the criminal justice system.

The Hampshire and Isle of Wight Police and Crime Panel will decide the budget for 2021/22 at its meeting on January 29.