TAX will be increased by an average of £5 this year to pay for more police officers.

The majority of councillors sitting on the police and crime panel this morning approved the proposal to raise the police precept by 3.4 per cent.

This equates to an average of £5 for band D households and is expected to fund 100 specialist officers. This will range from £3.33 more this year for band A properties to up to £10 more for band H.

Firearms teams to fight terrorism, with others tackling crime and help vulnerable youngsters.

Others would focus on neighbourhood crime problems, bringing down organised gangs and stopping repeat offenders.

The money would also allow Sussex Police to hire more investigators to focus on growing numbers of reports of sexual offences and child protection cases.

Police and crime commissioner Katy Bourne said the money would reassure the public and give them more confidence in the police and the precept increase is never seen to “plug a gap in funding” but used as an investment.

Families living in Band D properties in Sussex are at present paying £148.91 a year for policing which is 48 per cent less than £220.19 in Surrey, the office of the PCC said.