Police finance

I am looking forward to Richard Brunstrom's interview on Dragon's Eye tonight. The Daily Post features :

People would pay more council tax for extra cops
Nov 30 2006
by Daily Post

"MOST people in North Wales would accept a rise in council tax bills to fund more police officers on the beat, a poll claimed. The survey, commissioned by North Wales Police Authority, follows a £2m cut in this year’s budget in the face of potential tax capping by the Assembly government. Finance minister Sue Essex told AMs yesterday: "There are pressures out there. But I expect everyone, local councils or police authorities, to act reasonably when setting their council tax levels."

A market research company recruited 1,500 people, The Voice of North Wales, to represent the views of the public on police issues on behalf of the region’s Police Authority.
About 850 of the panel responded to the survey, whose main findings were:

61% would feel safer with more of a police presence in their communities;
75% would be happy to pay an increase of 39p a week (£20-a-year) in council tax to fund the shortfall in police funding
46% of the panel would pay an increase of 41p-a-week (£21-a-year) to maintain services and bridge the gap in fighting serious crime and terrorism"

but I am also interested in why North Wales has ended up in this alleged "mess" (Richard's own words). We know that North Wales Police have pitched for relatively high increases in recent years to deliver a higher level of community beat officers, is this undoing the general funding, as the public purse is tightening a little ? I would like to drill in to a few facts beyond the market reserach to help us all understand the issues given the jobs at risk.