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A LEADING police officer has called for neighbouring forces to merge in an attempt to cut costs.
The reforms outlined by Sir Hugh Orde, president of the Association of Chief Police Officers, would involve the biggest change in policing for nearly 50 years.
Under the proposals, the 44 forces in England, Wales and Northern Ireland would be amalgamated into regional units numbering as few as nine.
Sir Hugh believes the overhaul is required as Home Office budgets are set to shrink by up to 20 per cent. He thinks it will mean forces are better equipped to tackle terrorism and organised crime.
Former home secretary Charles Clarke suggested merging neighbouring forces in 2005 but the plans were scrapped a year later because of a lack of support.
Sir Hugh, former Chief Constable of Northern Ireland, said: “I have raised [mergers] with every political party and I do not detect any political will to deliver this in the foreseeable future.
“Some forces are better funded than others, so if you are looking at an amalgamation between a rich force and a less rich force, all sorts of politics come into play, which is why it requires central leadership to iron out those issues.”
Reader views (5)
Hi Jim,
Don`t worry our current Chief Constable is on his way to you, he has got a job with the Met to do with territorial policing.
- Brian G, Norfolk Gorleston, 19/11/2009 08:54
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Cut the paperwork by 40% and stop sending police on idiotic perversity, sorry, diversity courses etc. Get rid of all hate crime laws. That'll save a lot of money, too bad the idiots in charge won't accept this.
- Ralph, London, 18/11/2009 16:17
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Merging may save money but will it make for greater efficiency? I seem to recall reading years ago that decentralisation was the key to greater efficiency, by operating in smaller, more compact, easier to manage units. Surely that line of thinking applies to the police too.
- Graham Rodhouse, Helmond, Netherlands, 18/11/2009 13:33
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@Brian, can I come and live near you as I already live in an area that is supposed to have a 'local' policing committee but we also have loads of private security companies about, since they provide what the people want - i.e. a visible presence on the street. We have lots of CCTV that produces grainy images that can't be used for anything.
- Jim, London, 18/11/2009 12:49
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In these days of financial cut backs it makes sense, both financial and operationally, to have as few police forces as possible. Many provincial forces are already sharing specialist units. There were a lot of misgivings when the police service last underwent a wave of amalgmations in 1968; but the world did not fall apart. The time is now right to move to regional forces; but retaining a committee of local people, to oversee policing in their particular area. In the long term there would be substantial savings - amounting annually to hundreds of millions of pounds. The recession has meant that the argument for not amalgamating police forces has been well and truely lost.
- Brian G, Norfolk Gorleston, 18/11/2009 10:56
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