Date: 2nd December 2005
Released by: ANDREW TURNER

The Island’s MP has hit out at Government plans for ‘regional’ police forces.

Consultation is under way on whether Hampshire Constabulary – the Island’s police force – should remain a ‘stand alone’ force or be merged with neighbours. A Government-backed paper has suggested that in order to investigate the full range of crimes the ideal size for a police force is 4,000 officers. Hampshire has just under this number, and so initially the Chief Constable responded by considering a merger with Dorset and Wiltshire, both rural forces in areas with similar characteristics to those of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. But then he was given guidance by the Home Office that new forces should not cross regional boundaries, and therefore should look for mergers with Thames Valley or Sussex.

Says Island MP Andrew Turner :

“The Government’s guidance makes it inevitable that there will be at most one or two police forces covering the whole of the south-east region, with no accountability to local people. They are using the police to develop their agenda for regional government – breaking England up into bite-size chunks in which local traditions and culture are subsumed.

“But the Police do not want a merger. The reason is simple. A stand-alone force for Hampshire and the Island is the best for three reasons:

• First, ours is the third best force in the country. If it’s doing so well, why mess it about?
• Second, a merged police force will cost more not less. Hampshire has the second lowest police precept in the south-east, and it would take twenty years to save enough to outweigh the cost of reorganization.
• And third a Hampshire-only force would have a manageable structure of four to six basic command units, whereas a much bigger force may just be unmanageable and the top brass would rapidly fall out of touch with both the beat constable and local communities.

“I urge Islanders and Island organizations to write to me or to the Home Secretary with their views on the proposed merger. The deadline is 23rd December, so I hope people will write as soon as they can.”

END

Contact : Andrew Turner 01983 530808