Failed ‘Strategic Partnership’ Offers Warning About Potential Mergers

South Yorkshire and Humberside’s failure to merge units should be used as a warning when considering the introduction of super forces, the Chair of South Yorkshire Police Federation has warned.

Steve Kent was speaking after the Home Office published a policing white paper that proposed a radical shake-up of the existing 43 local police forces. It also proposed setting up a new National Police Service to take on serious and complex crime, and reducing the number of traditional territorial forces through mergers into larger regional units.

But Steve said: “I don’t think this is the answer. We should be learning from our mistakes in terms of merging with Humberside – which was a failure.”

The forces’ ‘strategic partnership’ saw the two forces working together in specialist areas, but HMICFRS last year found problems with the recording and management of demand.

Steve said: “If you look at performance metrics for forces, smaller forces tend to perform better, albeit a lot of those are better funded than bigger forces. I don’t think super forces are the answer to our problems.”

Steve called for public consultation ahead of the move, which has drawn criticism from officers in Scotland, who said their shift from eight forces to one single national force over a decade ago was detrimental to neighbourhood policing.

Steve added: “We need to be asking the public about this, because the interactions I’ve had suggest that they’re really concerned about being swallowed up by another force, like West Yorkshire Police, and I am concerned about that.”

He also warned that officers could face huge travel distances and disruption to their work/life balance if force boundaries were to change.

Steve explained: “If you were based in Sheffield, you could get deployed to Harrogate – and they would be expected to move 50 to 60 miles away, and that is simply not acceptable.

“We have to think really, really carefully about this. Rather than having fewer forces, we’re probably better off being more consistent in how forces are funded and how they are supported – and actually providing more support for policing in general.

“I welcome reform to policing, but I don’t necessarily think this is something that our officers, who will have to consult on this and get their views on it and the public as well, will necessarily support.”