By Vivienne Russell
07 July 2009
The prospect of cuts in police numbers is ‘fast becoming a reality’, a senior police officer has warned.
Sir Hugh Orde, incoming president of the Association of Chief Police Officers and former chief constable of the Northern Ireland Police Service, said the impact of the recession would be most keenly felt in service strength.
‘We know already that many police authorities are showing signs of fiscal strain, and if funding is cut in 2011 we can expect to see real difficulties in the face of a period, potentially, of rising and sustained unemployment and rising crime,’ he told the Acpo conference in Manchester today.
Shared services and collaborative procurement were being deployed to help forces find efficiency savings, Orde said, but he was critical of the current 44-force structure. ‘[It] is not one we would settle on if building from the ground up,’ he said.
‘I do not think the debate on mergers has “gone away”, but that is a matter for government, until then we must not sit on our hands but continue to work together.’
Acpo had backed government proposals to drastically reduce the number of police forces in England and Wales. The government abandoned the plans in 2006 in the face of funding complications and some strong opposition from individual forces.
Orde said regional collaboration on serious and organised crime had begun to emerge. ‘Similarly there is multi-force co-operation around procurement and the provision of forensic science facilities. I’m sure we can do more in this area,’ he said.
07 July 2009
The prospect of cuts in police numbers is ‘fast becoming a reality’, a senior police officer has warned.
Sir Hugh Orde, incoming president of the Association of Chief Police Officers and former chief constable of the Northern Ireland Police Service, said the impact of the recession would be most keenly felt in service strength.
‘We know already that many police authorities are showing signs of fiscal strain, and if funding is cut in 2011 we can expect to see real difficulties in the face of a period, potentially, of rising and sustained unemployment and rising crime,’ he told the Acpo conference in Manchester today.
Shared services and collaborative procurement were being deployed to help forces find efficiency savings, Orde said, but he was critical of the current 44-force structure. ‘[It] is not one we would settle on if building from the ground up,’ he said.
‘I do not think the debate on mergers has “gone away”, but that is a matter for government, until then we must not sit on our hands but continue to work together.’
Acpo had backed government proposals to drastically reduce the number of police forces in England and Wales. The government abandoned the plans in 2006 in the face of funding complications and some strong opposition from individual forces.
Orde said regional collaboration on serious and organised crime had begun to emerge. ‘Similarly there is multi-force co-operation around procurement and the provision of forensic science facilities. I’m sure we can do more in this area,’ he said.
