The money local people raised would be matched by additional funds from the Home Office.
David Blunkett put the plan forward at the New Local Government Network conference today as something that could happen during a Labour third term.
He has not yet decided how people would raise the money, how to administer the system, how to define the communities that would be able to vote on adopting the system, and how to ensure the policy didn't just lead to extra policing for the richest areas.
A spokesman for the Home Office said: "Currently we are considering how we could do this, it's at a very early stage.
"One of the things we are looking very hard at is how we could ensure the funding didn't just go to those areas most able to pay, which are already adequately policed."
Blunkett said he wanted communities to have the opportunity to get additional local police if people wanted them.
In an interview with The Times newspaper he added that votes could take place in particular estates or groups of streets. If a majority voted in favour then everyone in the area would have to pay an extra charge.
Frank Field, the Labour MP for Birkenhead who last year proposed docking housing benefit for antisocial tenants, said: "I'm delighted David Blunkett has come out with these proposals - they're exactly what i suggested he should do last year. I just hope he picks up some of my other ideas to beat antisocial behaviour.
"This is how services will be paid for in the future. There is no way people will subscribe to general tax increases - any increases for new services will have to be negotiated."
Housing professionals gave Blunkett's proposal a mixed reaction.
Tim Winter, national co-ordinator for the Social Landlords Crime and Nuisance Group said: "We already pay through general taxation for a police service, why should we have to pay extra for a good service in our local area?
"You shouldn't have to pay twice to get antisocial behaviour dealt with."
Adam Greenwood, antisocial behaviour consultant at Adam Greenwood Associates said: "If this is shown to work then great, but it has to be seen as an addition to traditional policing, not a replacement.
"The danger is that extra police will allow the local constabulary to cut down on normal policing in that area."
The scheme would be an extension of the current community support officer scheme, which has already seen 2000 new officers across the country. The Home Office says it expects to see 3000 of these officers in place by the end of the year, at a cost of £41m per annum.
While community support officers have been welcomed in the past by the housing sector, they have been criticised by the Association of Chief Police Officers for being policing on the cheap.
Source
Housing Today
