POTENTIAL plans to restructure policing in England and Wales and reduce the number of individual forces have not gone down well in South Yorkshire.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Martin Hewitt, head of the National Police Chiefs\u2019 Council, also wants the Government to use a forthcoming Royal Commission on criminal justice to begin plans to restructure the system.<\/p>\n
South Yorkshire Police Federation Chairman Steve Kent is part of the PFEW\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cIf we look at Police Scotland where it\u2019s been tried\u2026 for me it has been a disaster.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you speak to the officers up there, and you speak to the administration, the fact that they\u2019ve suffered such difficulties transitioning to one big force, we should take lessons from that and our own lessons in South Yorkshire.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe joined and collaborated in a major way with Humberside, and it caused absolute carnage which we\u2019re 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cI don\u2019t have any issue at all with all forces, all regional forces, collaborating in certain areas like clothing, police cars, logistical things.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut joining forces together and removing that local knowledge, that local ownership, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
Steve is also worried that resources would simply be focused on the larger conurbations \u2013 to the detriment of neighbourhood policing.<\/p>\n
He explained: \u201cYes, you\u2019d still have local response teams, but you would find resources moved around within regions, you\u2019d find big cities like Sheffield, Leeds, Birmingham, Manchester taking centre stage and everybody else would get neglected.<\/p>\n
\u201cKeep South Yorkshire cops in South Yorkshire and keep their name. I\u2019d imagine the public will want their area to be represented by their area\u2019s police force too.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not saying that we should live in the past for the rest of time. Improved practices, yes. But still keep those core forces.\u201d<\/p>\n