Police forces under threat of merger

From the Salisbury Journal, first published Wednesday 21st Sep 2005.

WILTSHIRE police force, the oldest rural force in the country, could be swept away in controversial new plans to set up super constabularies.

Home Secretary Charles Clarke has given police authorities until December to come up with their own plans on how to reduce the number of forces from the current 43 and create larger regional forces capable of tackling terrorism and crime.

It is believed the Home Secretary is looking at merging forces with less than 4,000 officers, fuelling fears that Wiltshire's future, with just 1,228 officers, is bleak.

But, so is its neighbour and the second smallest force, Gloucestershire, with 1,308 officers while Dorset would also be on the merger list with its 1,475 officers.

The Home Secretary has said the shake-up should stay within the government's south west boundary leading many to believe Wiltshire could be merged with Gloucestershire in line with the NHS shake-up, which led to the setting up of the Avon, Gloucester and Wiltshire strategic health authority.

This week officers and politicians began mobilising opposition to the merger plans.

Salisbury MP, Robert Key, said he felt strongly about the issue and said the most important thing was what the community of Wiltshire wanted.

Mr Key said: "We have had policing by consent for a very long time and the people of Wiltshire want a Wiltshire-based police force."

Mr Key said he did not believe any Civil Service predictions of savings through amalgamation. He said more often than not amalgamation proved to be more expensive. And he questioned whether a large police force would necessarily be more efficient.

He said: "I will resist a token amalgamation with promises of financial and management savings."

On Monday, chairman of the Wiltshire Police Authority, Bertie Woolnough, met the Home Secretary, but before leaving for London said he would be "very unhappy" if the Wiltshire force was disbanded.

Opposition has also come from Paul Sample, a Salisbury county and district councillor and a former member of the police authority.

Mr Sample, who earlier this year stood down after 12 years on the authority and whose book, The Oldest & The Best, the official history of the Wiltshire Constabulary, has just been republished, urged residents to fight amalgamation plans.

He said there is no evidence to suggest amalgamated forces are any more effective than smaller constabularies. After the meeting in Whitehall, the Wiltshire Police Authority issued a statement in which it said: "The corner stone of our philosophy is that policing must remain accountable to the local communities it serves. We will be consulting widely throughout Wiltshire and Swindon about these proposals, and will be working closely with other police authorities and forces in the south west. The history of structural change in other public services demonstrates that locally owned change, which has the support of local people, is most likely to deliver results. "Wiltshire Police service has delivered low crime and safe communities for many years. Maintaining that high quality service will be the key objective in our work."

Gloucestershire police said it will ask the views of the people in the county before deciding its response. Dorset Police Authority chairman, Michael Taylor, also said public consultation will be a "crucial aspect" of their considerations.

Mr Taylor said: "Any proposals to change the way that policing in Dorset is delivered must be based on a well-founded operational and financial case that will demonstrably benefit communities in Dorset."

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