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Norfolk Constabulary is facing questions after it emerged a single officer had received £30,000 in overtime payments last year, with the force's total overtime bill topping £5.7m. The officer, who has not been identified, is one of 25 who were all paid more than £17,600 for working extra hours, on top of their salaries. Almost nine out of ten officers on the force received overtime payments, with an average of almost £3,000 going to each one. The figures have raised alarm, with critics saying extra hours are draining budgets, with crimes going unsolved and victims unheard. Darwin Friend, head of research at the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "Taxpayers across Norfolk will be deeply concerned by these extraordinary overtime costs.” "With police budgets already stretched, spending millions of pounds on overtime payments is simply unsustainable.” "Norfolk police need to ensure every penny of taxpayers' money is spent protecting the public and catching criminals." In total, the force made £5,012,402 in overtime payments to 1,714 officers - about nine out of ten of the total number - and £782,353 to 603 police staff. Of the top 25 overtime earners, 23 were male and two were female. The force say the spending is because of the hundreds of additional working hours clocked up policing large-scale weekly protests and counter protests that began last summer over the Brook Hotel in Bowthorpe being used to house migrants. Similar protests were also staged at the Park Hotel in Diss and in Great Yarmouth adding to the overtime bill. A Norfolk Constabulary spokeswoman said: “We recognise this is a significant overtime cost, and much of this was driven by the demands of policing a significant increase in the number of protests last summer.” “Overtime is often required to police protests or large events, otherwise staff would have to be removed from core policing duties which would diminish our ability to respond to emergency calls or undertake neighbourhood policing.” “Police regulations require that when rest days are cancelled at short notice, which is often the case when we are notified of protests at short notice, officers are compensated, and these national rules apply to all forces.” Nick Taylor, chair Reform in Norwich, who stood for councillor in Bowthorpe losing by one vote, said police were underfunded and criticised the “extra burden” placed on the force by migrants being housed in the county. He said: “Norfolk police is traditionally underfunded. People would be shocked just how few officers are on duty at any one time.” “We need extra officers but instead money is being spent on overtime for an issue caused by people who shouldn’t be here in the first place.” “The Brook Hotel has been an issue for four years with concerns among local people about who is there and associated criminality.” "Inevitably that adds costs to the taxpayer money that could be better spent.” At the height of the protests last summer, Norfolk Chief Constable Paul Sanford called for extra resources from the government, saying he could not "crackdown" on crime "if I've got dozens of police officers stood outside a hotel". Other demands on manpower also came from policing protests about the Gaza conflict and demonstrations on issues ranging from the Norwich Western Link road to animal rights and transgender rights. Police have said overtime can be the most cost-effective means of dealing with demands outside of day-to-day policing. Overtime is paid to the usual hourly rate between 7am and 7pm Monday to Friday and time a half between 7pm and 7am. Extra hours worked on Saturdays and Sundays are paid at time and a half, but on public holidays it is double time. Continued…

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