Police mergers

[SaxyJag]

The governement want to merge five forces to make one huge East Midlands force. There's lots of consultation going on about it. Most of the police officers involved have said they don't want this. The public, in Leicestershire at least, will be given a questionnaire to fill in about it. The general consensus seems to be that neither the police nor the public want it.

So why do I get the impression that whatever the result of the consultation process, the government will go ahead anyway?

[Dom Tuk]

It will go ahead anyway because so single minded mandarin in the civil service, grade 3 or grade 4 for those who know what i mean has proposed this in some paper he presented to his bosses about how to cut down on spending. He will get his promotion on the back of his research and now that the train has been set rolling it will reach its destination, forget about the merits or de merits of the original proposition.

[johnlambert]

Sorry Saxy, I thought you were on about police mingers, anyway I live in Leics and cant wait to be consulted, not that this Govt will listen, they have made their minds up already

[Marky B]

Cleveland Police are really against it. To me it is diverting from the fact that the government is losing the war on crime and it is not confronting the real facts with real policies.

Merging police forces and other mediocre policies mean damn all to the public. It is when we can dismantle the fortresses we've had to make our homes into,when children can play safely in the street,when pensioners can release themselves from the homes they have been imprisoned in...in fact when all of us feel safe,then we can start believing the politicians in their fight against crime.

Ta Ta

Marky B

[SaxyJag]

The fact is that the best people to police a community are those with a good knowledge of that community and an understanding of its social fabric, viz. local police officers. I fail to understand how a copper from rural Lincolnshire can be expected to police the 2.00 am crowds in Leicester and Nottingham any more effectively than our local crew.

[Hammer Head]

The realreason for these mergers is to bring our police forces in line with the EU regions. Has no-one else really noticed that the four Welsh forces are being merged as are the five East Midlands forces and other forces throughout England.

The official excuse is that they will be more efficient in fighting terrorism and cross-border crime, but these are things that don't really affect most of us in our everyday lives. Most people are more concerned with violent crimes, robbery, car theft and vandalism. The merged forces will be far less effective in fighting these crimes because they will be more centrally based.

[Oneeyedvic]

Firstly, I disagree with the merger for most of the reasons already given - plus the fact that even now, when I call up 999 telephone number, I am going to a call centre many miles away who have no idea what I mean when I am trying to give directions from local landmarks.

Having said that though - I am not sure that a questionnaire / referendum is the best way to go forward. I don't know what the population is of Leicestershire is - but for arguments sake lets say 500,000 adults. Of those, how many people do you think actually understand the whole problem?

To me its a bit like the Euro - most people have an opinion on it (usually swayed by what paper they read) but the majority of people (including me) do not understand the full ramifications of joining. So should there be a consultation?

[sandbach99]

Like Hammar-head says it is all to do with the regionalization that the EU wants and was proposed by John Prescott which was rejected in the two referendums last year.

Lots of services etc are being merged, there are unelected regional councils and in time these regions will be proposed again and when people object they will be told it's already been done nothing is going to alter therefore your objections will be invalid.

Cheshire wanted to link with Shropshire or Staffordshire as they are similar forces instead they have to merge with Liverpool as thats the same region the other two aren't.

[steve208]

ok well hope someone can help.
well i agree with you both.
1. We might get consulted but this government will not listen.
2. This merging actually goes against what the blair government have been trying to do by introducing safer neighbourhood teams. On the one hand they are putting more police on the streets and pouring money into the service and making the police more relevant/local. Merging forces to create super forces will divert a huge amount of money from the front line and make policing less local.
3. Much of the government's justification for this is the need for police forces to be bigger so more able to fight crime in the "modern" era. What they mean is more emphasis on counter terrorism and serious and organised crime. of course this is important to fight these priorities but this should not be the focus of mainstream police.
The government have set up the serious and organised crime agency and enhanced the ability of MI5 so there is no need to cover the same areas twice.