?'Could you do my job better?', Chief Constable asks Northamptonshire public

?The online Points Simulator was launched today in the Market Square by Chief Constable Nick Adderley, who invited passing people to try allocating a limited numbers of officers and staff to the various policing tasks, from 999 call handling to investigating organised gangs.The idea is both to show people how difficult the task of budgeting is, and to influence where the money is actually spentIt is early days yet, but most people seem to be favouring neighbourhood policing over less visible aspects of the job - not that Mr Adderley minds.He said: "It's reassuring in that people are selecting the areas that I'm already concentrating on."We're getting 200 new officers and were really focusing on neighbourhood policing, PCSOs, beat bobbies."But whatever the consultation tells us, myself and the police and fire commissioner will sit down and look at that and it will influence our budget."Crime is becoming more complex to investigate and the population of the county is increasing, with the number of county residents increasing by 115,000 between 2007 and 2017.Therefore the pressure on budgets is becoming greater.Mr Adderley said: "If I was to put the amount of money suggested towards each area, then I'd need a budget of £250 million. I haven't got that, I've got £130 million so I think people can see you have to make decisions and you have to demonstrate value for money." To have a go at the simulator and see if you can do better than the Chief Constable click here.