The Pre-Budget Report last week promised ring-fenced budgets for policing so that frontline policing services can be protected. This came with the caveat that £5 billion worth of efficiency savings need to be driven out of the public sector overall.
It seems the perfect time to think about how staff (and costly police officers) can be freed up from back and middle office functions, whilst at the same time strengthening the service to local communities. At present, each of the 43 police forces of England and Wales have their own Human Resources, Finance, Public Relations, Procurement, Fixed Penalty Notice processing teams and so on. In addition, each force needs to maintain specialist units many of which, according to Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary reports, are too small to function effectively against crime that crosses police force borders – including serious and organised crime.
It was also announced this week that the Chief Constable of Kent, Mike Fuller, has been appointed as Chief Inspector of the Crown Prosecution Service, leaving a vacancy at the top of the Kent force. Kent Police have been working very closely with Essex Police since July 2007 in an attempt to join up some of these critical services and deliver some savings. Now is surely the time to facilitate a merger of the two forces to build on the efficiencies and more joined-up policing already delivered. There are other good candidates too. Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Police forces have wanted to merge for years, but the political will has simply not been there to facilitate this. Likewise Cumbria and Lancashire proposed to the Home Office back in 2006 that they be allowed to merge to save money and provide a better service. The then Home Secretary Charles Clarke strongly supported the move, his successor John Reid scrapped all mergers under pressure from the vested interests in Police Authorities.
In the pre-recession wastefulness in public sector spending, where more and more funding was poured in with no clear expectation of improvements in performance or efficiency, this seemed to be acceptable. It cannot be now, and every support should be given to allowing police force mergers to happen. The Government would be pushing on an open door – even ACPO recognises the sense in merging police forces. Mergers are not the solution to all the problems of policing, but the hundreds of millions of pounds that could be saved at a stroke through their facilitation should be grabbed now in advance of the more radical police reforms that are needed.
In the first of a series of posts by award winning think tank, Policy Exchange, the Head of Policy Exchange’s Crime and Justice Unit sets out the impact of the deficit crisis on the Police.
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What an insightful and well thought out post, it had never crossed my mind that it would save millions to combine Police forces, if only John Reid hadn’t given in to pressure we could of saved millions
I agree completely – cracking stuff. Timing is everything of course, and the poster is right that now is the time to do it. The self-interested nonsense from police authority members that stopped any mergers under Charles Clarke/John Reid won’t work in the current financial climate. The Tories need to grab this and drive it forward. I look forward to further posts.
I’m researching this whole thing at moment. Need to save money big time!