PARISH councils are being asked to stump up £2,000 to pay for new special constables.

Police and Crime Commissioner Roger Hirst wants to double the amount of volunteer special constables in Essex to 700.

After a meeting between Tiptree Parish Council and police, chairman Steve Bays said the council would be willing to pay for more than one special constable - as long as they patrol in their area.

This summer the council resorted to paying £12,000 a year for a security firm to patrol after they raised concerns about the lack of police presence in the village.

Mr Bays said: “They want to support what we are doing [with the security firm].

“It’s a good change from their previous stance. At first they were really apprehensive. They thought we were creating a two-tier policing system.

“But the model we have implemented seems to be working and they are happy with what we are trying to do.

“Unfortunately, we cannot pay for 24-hour security though, only them patrolling hot spots and at major times.

“At the meeting we were asked if we would be prepared to support new special constables. We did get an assurance that if we did fund one, they would be based in Tiptree. That was my understanding.”

There are 350 special constables in Essex. Mr Hirst announced he wants to double this to 700.

Although they are volunteer roles, Essex Police needs £2,000 to train each one.

Mr Bays said the parish council would not be voting to cough up the cash until questions had been answered.

He said: “If we pay for them, what’s the guarantee they don’t leave the following week and what happens to the money we have paid to train them? We want clarification and we are waiting to hear back.”

Regency Security Group started patrolling Tiptree in June after the parish council decided in April to fork out £12,000 annually for the service.

The village had been patrolled by PCSOs in recent years but it had reduced and the the security firm was brought in as a last resort.

However, even if the council votes to pay for the new special constables, Mr Bays said Regency would most likely stay.

He added: “They would work alongside each other and share intelligence.

“I personally think they are doing a good job. They are a deterrent, they are not there to catch criminals.

“We are starting to get the responses back from the village questionnaire we sent out and there are a lot of people who said they would be prepared to pay extra for policing – between £25 and £50.

“That’s a lot of money. Clearly people view security quite high up on their agenda.”