Force merger review call by senior West Mercia Police officer
A senior West Mercia policeman has called for the idea of force mergers to be "revisited" as the search for savings continues.
Gareth Morgan, assistant chief constable for local policing in West Mercia and Warwickshire Police, has made the call in a post on his personal blog.
Bill Longmore, West Mercia police and crime commissioner, said today there are no current plans to merge forces in his district.
ACC Morgan said: "As we await the outcome of the current spending review and the service prepares itself for further significant cuts in funding, it seems inconceivable that we can look to find further savings without looking at the most obvious overheads – the structure of force boundaries.
"In overseeing a current review of local policing in two forces where the prospect of police station closures, reducing officer numbers and the challenge to maintain key services are daily features I don't believe it would be acceptable to the public that we would look again at front line service delivery in future cuts and avoid a debate about force boundaries, overheads and the existing police landscape."
He said it is possible to look to Scotland to see how such changes can work.
"Since April this year Scotland has had a single police force. It's been built from the bottom upwards grounded in local policing linked to existing local authority areas. Specialist units that offer protection against threats which don't recognise force boundaries are embedded," he said.
ACC Morgan said the issue of mergers appeared to be back on the agenda after shadow chancellor Ed Balls gave a recent speech question whether it "makes sense" to have "separate costly management and bureaucracy for so many separate government departments, agencies, fire services and police forces".
He said that attempts in 2005 to consider mergers had been "overly political", with reasoned and balanced arguments "drowned out".
But Mr Longmore said: "There are no plans to merge police forces in West Mercia.
"Our alliance with Warwickshire will enable us to achieve huge savings across both forces while continuing to deliver the best possible protection for local communities. However, if we receive more radical cuts from the government other options will need to be considered."
