Police Force Collaboration Beckons As Finances Squeezed

It has become a common theme across Police Forces throughout the UK – the mantra of having to save money and provide more in an increasingly difficult economic environment.

Despite the promises to put more officers on the streets in the manifestos of the three main political parties, the reality is that money available to Chief Constables is already tight and the situation will become tougher in the years ahead. With the realisation that savings are needed, senior officers are already resorting to more draconian measures in a move to balance the books.

With the Treasury’s edict to increase efficiency gains from 3 to 4 per cent, there are now concerns that cash savings alone will not be enough to address police budget shortfalls. The gravity of the problem was outlined by Andy Hayman, a former Assistant Commissioner with the Met, when he told a conference in London that fundamental structures may need to be reconsidered.

“New initiatives such as neighbourhood policing have brought considerable benefits,” he maintained. “But continually extending the boundaries of policing is not sustainable if Forces are to deliver on the interdiction of crime, be it antisocial behaviour, organised crime or acts of terrorism.

“Chief Constables, struggling to address the deluge of performance indicators from central Government, need to re-think policing structures and reform, or else face having it done for them by a future Home Secretary.”

For one group of Forces in the North of England, however, an evolving formal collaboration arrangement involving both the constabularies and the Police Authorities is providing a possible example for how both working practices can be made more efficient and cash could be saved in the years to come.

Ironically, however, the Policing Yorkshire and the Humber initiative – which involves the North, West and South Yorkshire Forces as well as Humberside Constabulary – had its roots in firmly in controversial proposals made by the last Labour Government to merge the Forces six years ago.

Although the plans were shelved in 2006, the quartet of Forces recognised that they had identified areas where they could share resources. Forming a Regional Chief Constables Group from all four Forces and a Joint Police Authority Committee, they have been pressing ahead with their own initiative.

A Regional Programme Team is managing joint projects and a Regional Protective Services Improvement Plan sets out the stall for the coming three years. The document looks at areas where the Forces could work together such as homicide and witness protection and a mobilisation plan to test fast time response.

Moves to look at how other processes can formally be regionalised are also being investigated. Among them is a procurement plan and a joint custody project with an agreed model of prisoner handling across all four Forces. Investigating the viability of each of the ideas is split between the constabulary quartet, while the Joint Police Authority Committee have called in external consultancy firm Deloittes to scrutinise future proposals.

Co-ordinating the project is Head of Collaboration DCC Mark Whyman, a liaison point for those involved in the scheme, who admits a huge sense of enthusiasm for the project.

“I think there were a number of reasons why those involved took the view that they needed to continue to explore a formal system of working collaboratively,” he said. “The Chief Constables all knew each others’ areas and there was recognition that you are stronger if you work together. Ultimately, why do you want to do things four times over if you can do them once?”

“Having said that, however, the journey is still in progress – the project team has changed in shape and membership as we have progressed and the harmonisation of policies and procedures is going to take time. But my appointment in itself is evidence of the investment those involved are prepared to make.”

Recent successes of collaboration between the Forces have included the seizing of £6 million worth of criminal assets by the Roads Policing Team targeting cross-border criminals with 650 arrests made in the process.
Meanwhile in the hunt for missing Claudia Lawrence and the Cau Guan Chen murder investigation, West Yorkshire’s Underwater Search Unit and Humberside’s air support officers provided assistance along with detectives from across the region.

With the four Forces training together, officers have also been honing common tactics, which proved useful during the Operation Nix action – policing a series of demonstrations at the Lindsey Oil Refinery in North Killingholme.

Although the original aims of the collaborative working were operational rather than financial, Whyman admitted that the structures would help with cost savings needed amid the pressures created by the hole in public finances.

“We are currently reviewing everything that we do closely, and trying to second guess how we think a newly-elected Government is likely to act,” Whyman PoliceOracle.com. “In making savings the challenge that all of us are facing is to make them in such a way that they don’t disrupt services.”

But the collaboration project has the potential to provide a firm base to help reduce costs. Jeremy Holderness, Chief Executive of North Yorkshire Police Authority, is convinced that formal sharing of resources will be a feature of policing in future, and that it will be accelerated the economic outlook.

“Finances were never the prime driver for any of us in the project, but in the last two-and-a-half years we have seen the reality that public expenditure will be cut in the medium to long-term,” he said. “Not only do we need to work collaboratively, but we must focus on economies of scale and efficiency.

“There is work to be done still to achieve the long-term objectives that we have. The first two or three years of the process are all about each Force making themselves fit for purpose to work together. Starting from four different positions would be an impediment to collaboration rather than a driver.”

Whatever the aspirations of the Government and the Prime Minister who will prepare for power tomorrow morning, the future challenges facing the Police Service will not take long to overshadow the celebrations. The morning after the night before for newly elected politicians promises to be a sobering experience; deciding the way forward for public services must be swift.

Formal collaboration, and potentially mergers, offers a possible way forward for constabularies, but the processes faced by the Yorkshire and the Humber show that the integration of different procedures and methodologies does take time and effort to achieve. And ultimately, any merger or collaboration must still be achieved against the pressures of operations

Article courtesy of www.PoliceOracle.com