By Jaimie Kaffash
31 March 2010
Police groups have strongly attacked recommendations by the CBI business lobby for improving the efficiency of the profession.
The CBI’s report, A frontline force: proposals for more effective policing, was released today. It says that forces should share back-office functions and involve the private sector in providing services that do not need warranted officers, including the running of custody suites. It adds that these measures could save £45m a year, which could be used to put ‘more bobbies on the beat’.
John Cridland, deputy general of the CBI, said: ‘There is considerable scope for the police to find savings without compromising frontline policing. But this will require a major re-think of what we expect the police to do. Does a highly-qualified warranted police officer really need to be the first port of call for someone reporting an item of lost property?’
The report adds that there had been successful shared services pilot schemes between Kent and Essex, which has saved £3m since 2007. It also points towards an initiative in South Wales for a private firm to run its custody services, fingerprinting and food provision, which has saved £1.2m.
But Paul McKeever, chair of the Police Federation of England and Wales, criticised the report. While welcoming the ‘improved efficiency’ of ‘collaboration, joint procurement and rationalising backroom functions’, he said it contained ‘several ill-informed suggestions focussed purely on cost-cutting’.
‘Where this biased report falls down is its ethos that policing can be treated as a business,’ he said. ‘Policing is a public service; and, unlike private business, we cannot pick and choose what to do. We exist to serve the public, not shareholders.
He attacked the recommendation to link salary to performance reviews. He said: ‘Is the CBI suggesting we reintroduce more targets and officers will then be judged by how many arrests they make, or how many victims they see, irrespective of the quality of service given?’
“I do wonder whether the CBI may better spend its time getting its own house in order before looking to the police. What next? The Association of Chief Police Officers drafting proposals for more effective banking?’
Chief constable Mark Rowley, the ACPO’s lead on futures, said the report ‘adds to the developing debate on the future of policing’.
‘At the heart of the issue is the ever-widening mission and complexity of the police service; from placing local “bobbies on the beat” to patrol neighbourhoods and tackle anti-social behaviour; through to the protection of people from serious, violent, national and international crime,’ he said. ‘This is particularly testing at a time of financial constraint.’
31 March 2010
Police groups have strongly attacked recommendations by the CBI business lobby for improving the efficiency of the profession.
The CBI’s report, A frontline force: proposals for more effective policing, was released today. It says that forces should share back-office functions and involve the private sector in providing services that do not need warranted officers, including the running of custody suites. It adds that these measures could save £45m a year, which could be used to put ‘more bobbies on the beat’.
John Cridland, deputy general of the CBI, said: ‘There is considerable scope for the police to find savings without compromising frontline policing. But this will require a major re-think of what we expect the police to do. Does a highly-qualified warranted police officer really need to be the first port of call for someone reporting an item of lost property?’
The report adds that there had been successful shared services pilot schemes between Kent and Essex, which has saved £3m since 2007. It also points towards an initiative in South Wales for a private firm to run its custody services, fingerprinting and food provision, which has saved £1.2m.
But Paul McKeever, chair of the Police Federation of England and Wales, criticised the report. While welcoming the ‘improved efficiency’ of ‘collaboration, joint procurement and rationalising backroom functions’, he said it contained ‘several ill-informed suggestions focussed purely on cost-cutting’.
‘Where this biased report falls down is its ethos that policing can be treated as a business,’ he said. ‘Policing is a public service; and, unlike private business, we cannot pick and choose what to do. We exist to serve the public, not shareholders.
He attacked the recommendation to link salary to performance reviews. He said: ‘Is the CBI suggesting we reintroduce more targets and officers will then be judged by how many arrests they make, or how many victims they see, irrespective of the quality of service given?’
“I do wonder whether the CBI may better spend its time getting its own house in order before looking to the police. What next? The Association of Chief Police Officers drafting proposals for more effective banking?’
Chief constable Mark Rowley, the ACPO’s lead on futures, said the report ‘adds to the developing debate on the future of policing’.
‘At the heart of the issue is the ever-widening mission and complexity of the police service; from placing local “bobbies on the beat” to patrol neighbourhoods and tackle anti-social behaviour; through to the protection of people from serious, violent, national and international crime,’ he said. ‘This is particularly testing at a time of financial constraint.’
