A single North East police force could be the best way to protect the region, according to a senior officer responding to Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley's call for a radical overhaul of policing in England and Wales.
Sir Mark this week proposed slashing the number of forces from 43 to eight or ten, arguing that resources are being wasted financing 43 separate police forces and that larger regional forces would be better able to tackle criminal gangs. He described the plan, set out in a major speech, as the "opposite of Beeching" – a reference to the 1960s closure of local railway services.
Chief Constables Back Reform
Victoria Fuller, Chief Constable of Cleveland Police, said a single "North East" police force "may make sense." Her force area saw rioting this summer after the deaths of two police officers among seven people killed in a road crash. She said her relatively small force was only able to "surge" to fight organised crime in the aftermath by drawing on resources from other forces and specialist help from the National Crime Agency.
She said: "The tragedy in August showed us what we can do with more. Firearms recovered, drugs recovered. We've been tackling this before, but our communities have seen in Cleveland, what enhanced resources and specialist capability can do for us."
Sir Stephen Watson, Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police, who has turned his force into a top performer after being in special measures, said the state of public finances means there is no way more funding would be coming for policing. He said: "We have got to use the money better than we do today. And it must be an inconvertible fact, that we have tied up in 43 headquarters, 43 chiefs, 43 deputies, 43 IT directors, 43 HR directors, 43 procurement specialists, 43 different IT systems, it must be the case that there is money to be liberated through economies of scale and bringing some rational bringing together of those resources."
Rowley Defends Proposals
Speaking to the Press Association, Sir Mark said the proposals would bolster the number of officers on the beat rather than cut local policing. He said: "This is the opposite of Beeching. This is about, I don't know, the equivalent would be more local railways, not fewer. The building block for the work we want to do is bottom up. It's about strong local policing. Everything stands behind that. At the moment, it's not as strong as it needs to be. The reason is, crime gets more complicated, so you need more specialist skills to deal with it."
He said rationalising the current structure would free up resources to go back into local policing and allow specialist units to tackle organised crime, which some smaller forces struggle to do adequately. He said the blunt truth is the police service needed to adapt or that "criminals will win."
Local Leaders Resist
The proposals have faced resistance from police and crime commissioners and local leaders who fear a restructuring will cost money and weaken ties between senior officers and the communities they serve. The Government launched a review in January this year, led by former Scotland Yard chief Lord Bernard Hogan-Howe, to consider dramatically reducing the number of forces.
Labour's North East Mayor Kim McGuinness said: "If you move to a handful of very big forces you will risk losing the ability for local people to have their say. Yes, some issues rightly need a national approach, but we have to protect the principle of local accountability – that means local targets, local control of budgets and a chief constable held to account by their residents. What we definitely do not need is the head of London's very troubled police force coming north and telling us how policing should work. The Met is not in a position to preach to northern police forces."
Kent's Conservative Police and Crime Commissioner, Matthew Scott, claimed Sir Mark's suggestions would lead to a "decade of disruption." He said: "Money – your money – will be diverted to pay for this folly, rather than fighting crime and supporting victims. Every pound spent reorganising is a pound not spent catching criminals, and a pound that policing does not have, wasted."
