South Yorkshire Warns Against Potential Force Mergers
POTENTIAL plans to restructure policing in England and Wales and reduce the number of individual forces have not gone down well in South Yorkshire.
Several senior police chiefs have backed calls for fewer, larger forces to help tackle organised crime including county lines drug dealing, cybercrime and modern slavery.
Martin Hewitt, head of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, also wants the Government to use a forthcoming Royal Commission on criminal justice to begin plans to restructure the system.
South Yorkshire Police Federation Chairman Steve Kent is part of the PFEW’s working group on the subject. He said working alongside other forces is a positive, but would stop short of a more holistic overhaul and restructure.
He said: “If we look at Police Scotland where it’s been tried… for me it has been a disaster.
“When you speak to the officers up there, and you speak to the administration, the fact that they’ve suffered such difficulties transitioning to one big force, we should take lessons from that and our own lessons in South Yorkshire.
“We joined and collaborated in a major way with Humberside, and it caused absolute carnage which we’re still only just unravelling now. We had a disastrous collaboration with them which caused problems. It was a big lesson really in how these things have to be treated with extreme care.”
Collaborating on uniform and vehicles can be positive, Steve said, but he was concerned that local community knowledge and contacts could be lost in any mergers.
He added: “I don’t have any issue at all with all forces, all regional forces, collaborating in certain areas like clothing, police cars, logistical things.
“But joining forces together and removing that local knowledge, that local ownership, I don’t think it’s been a good idea. From the police officers I know in Scotland things have not improved from becoming one big police force, so I think we need to take those lessons.”
Steve is also worried that resources would simply be focused on the larger conurbations – to the detriment of neighbourhood policing.
He explained: “Yes, you’d still have local response teams, but you would find resources moved around within regions, you’d find big cities like Sheffield, Leeds, Birmingham, Manchester taking centre stage and everybody else would get neglected.
“Keep South Yorkshire cops in South Yorkshire and keep their name. I’d imagine the public will want their area to be represented by their area’s police force too.
“I’m not saying that we should live in the past for the rest of time. Improved practices, yes. But still keep those core forces.”