Avon and Somerset's police and crime commissioner has criticised the perceived "high levels of misogyny" in the public responses to the police force's annual budget consultation.
Avon and Somerset Constabulary set its annual budget in Taunton on Tuesday (February 3), which will see an additional £15 added to the annual council tax bill for an average (Band D) property in Somerset.
The public were invited to give their responses to the budget proposals in an online consultation, which ran between December 19, 2025 and January 28, 2026 and was regularly publicised by the police on social media.
Clare Moody, the area's Labour police and crime commissioner, used the budget meeting to criticise some of the responses to the consultation, including what she deemed "misogyny" directed at herself and chief constable Sarah Crew.
Ms Moody - whose role will be abolished by May 2028 - made her comments before the Avon and Somerset police and crime panel (comprising councillors from across the force's area) approved the budget at Deane House in Taunton.
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She said: "The approach to statutory consultation this year has been different to previous years, and we have provided a 'free text box' this year - though it does always lead to lower responses if you do that.
"We got some pretty unpleasant responses in that free text box, and I would say that some of them reflect some really high levels of misogyny, addressed both to myself and the chief constable.
"That is a fact of public communication these days. We tried something new, but we didn't get the volume of responses that I think would give us a representative answer of what people want from their police."
Only 321 people responded to the police survey - compared to more than 1,400 who took part in the survey surrounding Somerset Council's annual budget (which will be set in early-March).
Of these 321 respondents, just under half (44 per cent) provided direct feedback on the police's spending plans or funding of its annual budget - compared to 22 per cent who provided feedback on other matters and 34 per cent whose response was "blank or unusable".
Of the comments received, 86 per cent were negative, with more than 62 per cent these respondents either disagreeing or strongly disagreeing that they had any confident in their local police force.
Furthermore, 69 per cent of respondents stating that they did not support any increase in the police's share of council tax bills.
The panel unanimously agreed to approve the police force's annual budget (including the £15 increase) after around two hours' debate.
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