Federation: Be aware of the “utter disaster” police force collaborations can be

COLLABORATION in policing can spell “utter disaster”, South Yorkshire Police Federation Chair Steve Kent has said.

Steve was talking after a recent report from HM Inspectorate of Constabulary Fire and Rescue Service found that failing collaborations are costing forces millions without seeing results.

Steve said: “We do little bits of collaboration, but we did do a lot in the past and it was an utter disaster. We used to collaborate with Humberside. We still do on some things and I do think there’s a place for some collaboration when it comes to IT, fleet or uniform procurement for example. In terms of getting our kit through the door, there’s a place for that.

“But when we’re talking about resourcing collaboration we and Humberside put our traffic and specialist departments together and it was a disaster. Our chief exited from that because we were finding our officers were being pulled from Sheffield all the way over to Bridlington which logistically is ridiculous and it caused real issues in terms of our resourcing.

“When it comes to the specific logistical requirements of each force you need to be careful not to move away again from neighbourhoods. You need to have focused work in your areas. What might be relevant in a metropolitan force like South Yorkshire compared to a semi-rural force like Humberside, you’ve got two completely different demographics, so I think forces have got to be very careful when it comes to merging any kind of operational policing.”

Too many collaborations do not have a clear purpose or objective and complicated and bureaucratic decision-making has undermined their effectiveness, HMICFRS said. Nationally forces are spending over a quarter of a billion pounds on collaboration every year, but too many are failing, the inspectorate found in its PEEL spotlight report “The Hard Yards – police to police collaboration.”