West Mercia Police Commissioner says Warwickshire was not prepared for police break-up
West Mercia Police’s alliance with Warwickshire had to be extended because the neighbouring force did not adequately prepare for the break-up, the commissioner has said.
John Campion, West Mercia’s Police and Crime Commissioner, instigated the split in October 2018, triggering a year-long negotiation process, but Home Secretary Priti Patel delayed it until April.
Conservative Mr Campion told the force area’s Police and Crime Panel that Warwickshire “didn’t give due haste” until the period was nearly over, but said the decision was made lawfully and with all the necessary information on the West Mercia side.
He was replying to a question from Telford and Wrekin councillor Kuldip Sahota, Labour’s candidate in May’s PCC election, who said he should have been “more flexible” and forewarned then Home Secretary Amber Rudd ahead of announcing the break-up plans.
Councillor Sahota referred to a document, prepared by Mr Campion’s office, which said the continuation of the alliance – which has been in place since 2012 – was costing West Mercia Police at least £6 million a year and Ms Patel’s extension decision “perpetuated this inability to realise savings”.
He said: “Why did you not pick up the phone and say ‘This is what I’m about to do. I don’t know what the consequences are for Warwickshire, but these are the consequences for us’?
“Why didn’t you pick up the phone to say ‘Give me the £6m or this is what’s going to happen’?
“I’m sure I’m not saying that the Home Secretary would have given you £6m, or whatever, but at least she would have known what was going on.
'Flexible'
“Why didn’t you be more flexible on that side?”
Mr Campion said: “We said we wanted to alter that arrangement and we were given 12 months’ notice to do that. The reason the Home Secretary had to intervene is during that 12-month notice period, both sides didn’t agree the way forward and we would suggest Warwickshire didn’t give due haste to the separation.
“It was only a few weeks before the end of that 12 months they had to say to the Home Secretary ‘We haven’t made that progress, we need the help’.
“For me it isn’t a case that the decision was, in some way, not considered. Absolutely it was. I and the chief constable took the appropriate advice. The decision was made in a lawful, balanced way for the best interest of our community.
“Let me be clear here: We offered all the services that were required, but based on a fair charging mechanism.
“Let me use the example of repairing crashed vehicles. Currently, repairs are funded 69:31. We pay 69 per cent of the bill, yet Warwickshire crash 50 per cent of the value of those repairs.
“Therefore, I would come back to this: it hasn’t been necessarily in Warwickshire’s interest to give haste to coming out of that relationship, because they know, and it is evident in the budget they are setting, we are subsidising them.”
