FIVE police forces in the north of England have agreed to merge their dog units with neighbouring forces to reduce costs.<\/p>\n
South Yorkshire Police and Humberside Police will merge their units and cut the number of dogs and handlers to a combined total of 25.<\/p>\n
Durham and Cleveland, which merged their dog units earlier this year, will also merge their newly combined unit with North Yorkshire. The number of dogs to be retired has not yet been decided, but a spokesperson for North Yorkshire Police said the number would be small, if any.<\/p>\n
The mergers are part of the wider cost-cutting measures that have been taking place in forces across the country.<\/p>\n
Neil Bowles, Chairman of South Yorkshire Police Federation, said: \u201cCollaboration is a red herring. We need to amalgamate forces, and it\u2019s about time the Government grasped that nettle.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are far too many small forces around trying to cope with these cuts and they can\u2019t. The only way they can do it is by economies of scale, having regional forces. I\u2019d be in favour of a Yorkshire and Humber police force. It\u2019s got to happen or else we\u2019ll just collapse.\u201d<\/p>\n
South Yorkshire, which needs to save \u00a359 million by 2020, is set to lose 12 dogs and handlers in the restructuring, the equivalent of half of its dog unit.<\/p>\n
A spokesman for the force said the move was needed to meet budgetary cuts imposed on South Yorkshire’s operational support services. “Police dogs and their handlers provide a range of important roles in helping to keep the public safe,” he said.<\/p>\n
“Whilst we are reducing the size of the unit in South Yorkshire, by merging with Humberside, it allows us to maintain the same number of officers and dogs and continue to perform a valuable role for the public, yet at the same time we can still meet the savings required due to the unprecedented cuts.”<\/p>\n
Two bases will be located in Sheffield and in Melton, East Yorkshire.<\/p>\n
The integrated unit for Durham, Cleveland and North Yorkshire is expected to be created in the summer of 2016 and will reduce costs across the three forces by \u00a33 million over five years.<\/p>\n
Ron Hogg, the Police and Crime Commissioner for Durham, said the decision would “save money and secure the police dogs function for the future”, while Cleveland Police Chief Constable Jacqui Cheer said “equipping and strengthening” specialist teams for cross-border working was key to staying “one step ahead” of criminals.<\/p>\n
The new Integrated Dog Support Unit will allow dogs and handlers to be trained in the same way and give officers greater access to specialist dogs when covering specific types of operations, said the forces.<\/p>\n