SMALLER\u00a0police forces could have to merge in the face of further Government-led budget cuts, it has been warned.<\/p>\n
Forces have also been told that they will have to co-operate much more closely with each other to save money.<\/p>\n
The Association of Police and Crime Commissioners estimates up to \u00a3300 million could be saved within a few years if forces collaborate in buying equipment.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But informal or more formal mergers between some of the country\u2019s smaller forces may be inevitable if they are to deal with another round of Government-led budget cuts, Sky News reported.<\/p>\n
In response to the report, Chief Constable Sara Thornton, Chair of the National Police Chiefs\u2019 Council, said: \u201cWe\u2019ve dealt with cuts of 25% in Government grant in the last five years and are set for similar following the Comprehensive Spending Review in the Autumn.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re likely to have lost around 70,000 police posts by 2020. \u202fThis means we have to make fundamental changes to the way we police otherwise we will fail in our service to the public and unacceptably stress our staff.<\/p>\n
\u201cImproving the way we procure equipment and services will save us some money, as will sharing more within and outside policing \u2013 so more collaboration between forces, within regions or through joint teams with other agencies like social services.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut they won\u2019t solve the problem alone. \u202fWe are working with others with a stake in policing to develop a medium term plan for how policing needs to transform and work with other parts of the public sector.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith regard to mergers, most would agree that fewer forces is the best option, but if the desire is to maintain 43 then forces will need to collaborate more \u2013 between two forces, at a regional level or through joint teams with other agencies like social services.<\/p>\n
\u201cCollaboration is already happening: there are numerous examples of sharing staff, buildings and equipment, some with other organisations and some with other police forces. Two thirds of forces are already co-located with other organisations or have plans to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n
Police forces in England and Wales currently spend around \u00a31.7 billion on equipment annually \u2013 13% of their total budget. But the price for similar pieces of equipment can vary considerably between forces.<\/p>\n
HM Inspector of Constabulary Mike Cunningham said: \u201cThe days of chief constables jealously guarding their own police forces have gone. They have to have gone.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat chief constables have to be most concerned with now \u2013 and they are working on this the length and breadth of the country \u2013 is the provision of good, high-quality community safety services to the communities that they are paid to serve.\u201d<\/p>\n
See the report here:\u202fhttp:\/\/news.sky.com\/story\/1529893\/budget-cuts-may-prompt-police-force-mergers<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" SMALLER\u00a0police forces could have to merge in the face of further Government-led budget cuts, it has been warned. Forces have also been told that they will have to co-operate much\u2026 read more →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2067,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2237"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2237"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2237\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2239,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2237\/revisions\/2239"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}