PEOPLE living on Teesside are to pay more for their police service in future.

But the increase in the precept, which will see thousands of residents paying £64.08 a year for Cleveland Police, was dismissed last night as "paying coppers for coppers".

Under proposals agreed at a meeting of the Cleveland Police Authority, yesterday, the precept for Band A tax payers will be £64.08p a year, a rise of £17.74p, equivalent to a weekly increase of 34p.

The precept for Band B tax payers will be £74.77p a year, an increase of £20.71p, which works out at 40p more a week.

Police authority chairman, Councillor Ken Walker said: "I do not want to deceive the public. Dealing with the challenges faced by the force, and the growing expectation of the public, has a price and, regrettably, because of the way the police are funded, some of the burden inevitably falls on council tax payers.

"The reality is that for the vast majority of council tax payers, the additional cost of protecting their communities and enhancing the fight against crime will be no more than 40 pence per week - and I believe that most people will regard that as money well spent.''

He said budget plans exploded fears the force was planning to cut back on policing.

"Against a background of very real financial challenges, we are protecting front-line services, maintaining the drive to increase officer numbers - through both our own resources and funding from the Government - and we are dealing head-on with the crunch issues which concern the public."