PUBLIC concerns over the murder of have-a-go Warrington dad Garry Newlove have prompted Cheshire police authority to earmark cash for extra beat officers.

Mr Newlove was kicked to death by three youths when he went out to try to stop them vandalising his wife’s car.

The authority, which controls police spending, admits it was widespread concern about how the force was able to cope with such incidents of anti-social behaviour that persuaded its members to step-up the cash allocation for neighbourhood policing by £1.6m.

This will mean an extra 35 officers on the front line.

However, the authority said it was up to police chiefs to work out where the additional officers would be deployed.

Authority chairman Peter Nurse said: “Concerns expressed by people after the murder of Garry Newlove showed us that officers are stretched when responding to anti-social behaviour.

“Investment in Neighbourhood Policing Units (NPUs) will increase the number of calls that officers can respond to.

“This case also showed us how alcohol is often the cause of the problem.

“Our investment will allow the police to set up Partnership Licensing Units where officers will work with local authorities, trading standards and the fire service to make better use of information gathered about licensed promises, make effective use of licensing legislation and tackle the problems of alcohol related disorder.”

He added: “The authority will monitor the effect the extra money being invested by the people of Cheshire is having on crime, disorder and how safe people feel.”

The extra £1.6m will come from the controversial 17% rise in the authority’s Council Tax precept.

Mr Nurse said of this: “When making the difficult decision about the budget and Council Tax level for policing this year, we listened to the views of the public who told us that they wanted the police to combat anti-social behaviour and see a more visible police presence in their communities.

“The extra money we have put into neighbourhood policing will see an increase of 35 neighbourhood officers, provide more schools based officers to seek to reduce juvenile crime and additional officers to deal with anti social behaviour and prolific offenders.”

The force’s (NPUs) are made up of community action teams and local investigation teams which concentrate on preventing and detecting local crime and targeting local offenders.

They work with the community to resolve the problems and tackle crime and disorder issues.