SOUTH Yorkshire Police is reverting to a 1980s policing model despite the fact that it faces very complex modern crimes, the local Federation has warned.<\/p>\n
The force is undergoing a significant restructure in response to \u00a374.5 million cuts to the policing budget. The force has lost the equivalent of every officer in Doncaster, and more job losses are planned.<\/p>\n
Under the shuffle, Sheffield, Rotherham, Barnsley and Doncaster will now be served by \u2018local policing teams\u2019, which will respond to crimes and incidents on their patches and tackle community issues.<\/p>\n
There will be six teams in Sheffield, three in Rotherham, two in Barnsley and three in Doncaster from May.<\/p>\n
A force crime unit will be deployed to districts to deal with major incidents including murders. And a public protection unit set up to deal with issues including child sexual exploitation, child abuse and domestic abuse will operate across the county.<\/p>\n
Police and Crime Commissioner Dr Alan Billings said: \u201cEven though numbers are being squeezed all the time, with local policing teams there will be more officers visible in communities at any one time.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, Neil Bowles, chairman of South Yorkshire Police Federation, said the move would be a false economy and that already overstretched officers and communities would pay the price.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll you get for less is less. We are going back to two big teams, one in uniform (response and communities) and one not (force and CID). This was the basic model of policing when I joined back in the 80s, when crime was different; populations were smaller, more traditional and less diverse. Does the public deserve to be short changed by policing returning to how it was in the 80s?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNeighbourhood Policing teams are going to be frustrated as they will keep being called to perform other roles. Local police commanders, answerable to their partners, will not have direct control over the CID. There will be less supervision, mistakes will be made, sickness will rise, and neighbourhoods will suffer.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cThe next Government must get its spending priorities right, its first duty is to protect its citizens. Allocate the police more money. Only then will we be able to provide the service we all want to provide.\u201d<\/p>\n
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