Association of Chief Police Officers – Page 31

I’ve long been an advocate of amalgamation and/or regionalisation in the British police service. Finally, it appears several Chiefs are actually moving in that direction however, they’re not doing it honestly or coughing fully to the actions they’re taking.

Within the last week, Humberside Police and South Yorkshire Police announced they would be sharing the services of one HR director (read more).

The Policing Yorkshire and the Humber initiative may well be a good example of the moves afoot in British policing provision however, are the measures which have been taken so far, really enough? It is becoming evident that ACPO may have finally realised what actually has to be done, all be it because their hand has been forced by government austerity measures. The HR move is sensible, for financial reasons if nothing else however there is still much rationalisation that can be done. The question remains, are police forces actually moving far and fast enough down the collaboration route?

The answer to the question has to be unequivocably NO. Police Authorities and ACPO are still hiding behind the old limp excuses about the probable lack of ‘local control’ and lack of ‘public support’, neither of which hold any water. These people and organisations are simply protecting their own position, and all at considerable public expense. The present tenure of ACPO and the Police Authorities is no longer tenable, especially in the current financial climate, it’s time they came clean and moved faster!