Clarke considers police force mergers

Friday, 20 May 2005 12:00 AM

Home Secretary Charles Clarke said last night that merging some of England and Wales' 43 police forces would be considered as part of policing reforms in Labour's third term.

He told chief police officers that it had become clear that some aspects of the current set up "are not fit for purpose".

He said: "I do not have a blueprint for change, but I don't think the number 43 is the best way we should organise ourselves throughout the country."

He added: "I don't have a map of how it should be done, but I'm saying we can't keep it going as it is, simply because that is how it has always been."

Addressing the Association of Chief Police Officers, Mr Clarke also pledged to review the "alphabet soup" of agencies involved in advising and inspecting police forces, such as HMIC, PITO, the PSU and Centrex.

An area where chief police officers would like to see change is in the amount of freedom they are given over deployment of resources.

ACPO president Chris Fox told Sky News that police forces did not just require more police, but more accountants, forensic scientists, and specialist scene examiners - something which was obscured by the "constant battle for police numbers".

He said: "So we want to see some freedom given to chief constables to pick the right groups of people to do policing properly in the neighbourhoods and on the streets, and that's not just uniformed officers."

On Wednesday, Charles Clarke told the Police Federation that the police faced "massive" challenges over resources and modernisation.

He said: "We do need a major programme of change if we are to meet the aspirations of people in this country."

He also accepted police had to deal with too much bureaucracy, saying:" I acknowledge we have to deal with that."

Tags: