Cost of merger

The Norther Echo - Regional Newspaper for the North East of England with a reputaion for in- depth coverage of political issues. Above a flash back to last year.

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Letter published in The Northern Echo - Saturday 27 May

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Sir,

The editorial comment in The Northern Echo (Wed 24 May) commenting on the creation of a merged North East Police Force correctly concludes that people living in the region are mainly concerned about the availability of officers on the beat and local accountability.

The new Home Secretary, Dr John Reid , came to the conclusion to shelve the national scheme to merge the 43 English and Welsh Police Forces into 12 large regional super forces after an report for the Association of Chief Police Officers showed that the cost of the merger plans lead to the strength of the police being cut by 25,000 and there would also be considerably less local police accountability.

Rather than ignore professional advice as The Northern Echo suggests in last Wednesdays leader - Dr Reid has embraced it and clearly ignored his party's obsession with regionalisation.

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The leader refered to in the 'Echo' states:

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''It is, an issue that will not go away. Here in the North -East, we have the chief constables of Durham and Northumbria passionately arguing that a regional police force is the best way to fight organised crime.........''

'' Can a Home Secretary really ignore that kind of advice, even if Clevland's chief constable takes the opposite view ?''

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Editorial comment - our reader may ask why the editorial does not grant capital Cs to Chief Constables - which in the context written is a proper noun. I susspect by the end of this glorious week-end we will be informed.

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On The Northern Echo's front page of the same edition Northumbria Police Deputy Chief Constable David Warcup said: '' Its appropriate that new ministers will need to look at the proposals in detail, but we feel the best solution for the future of policing in the North -East is a single regional force''.

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Clearly the issue of the vast cost incured in the proposed merging police forces and the consequental effect on police numbers has been missed by this particular senior officer.

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When the realisation that merging police forces is an idea born out of the Deputy Prime Minister's 30 year regional dream dawns on the senior 'boys in blue' and that the proposals have nothing what so ever to do with operational efficiency one trusts the idea will be droped for lack of evidence.