The Police & Crime Commissioner will report at the meeting.
Minutes:
The Commissioner reported that the Chief Constable, Pat Geenty, had announced his intention to retire from his position with the Force in May 2015 in order to spend more time with his family.Mr Geenty joined Wiltshire Police in July 2009 and was appointed substantive Chief Constable of the Force in May 2012. The Commissioner went on to express his thanks for all the hard work, professionalism and total commitment to his role as Chief Constable carried out by Mr Geenty. The Commissioner would be giving consideration to the continuity plan for the Force to ensure that it was able to maintain consistency in leadership. A timeline had yet to be worked out for the appointment of a new Chief Constable and the Commissioner intended to provide an update at the next meeting.
The Commissioner went on to report that discussions had begun which would see specialist police resources and support functions in the Wiltshire and Avon & Somerset forces being shared under a new strategic alliance, or ‘collaboration’ as both forces sought to secure significant savings over the next five years. During the past four years each of the forces had been required to find substantial savings and, although this had not been easy, these had been achieved. It was noted that the two forces already collaborated on Brunel, a shared Major Crime Investigation Team, and Special Branch. Building on these successful foundations, the forces expected a wider collaboration would deliver a more efficient and cost effective police service for local communities.
It was anticipated that further significant savings would have to be found by 2018/19 and it was hoped that by collaborating where possible, the impact on the delivery of frontline services would be lessened.
Discussions between the Police and Crime Commissioners and Chief Constables about a strategic alliance had begun in December 2014. These discussions were still at an early stage but it had been agreed that specialist police resources, protective services as well as corporate services would be included in the alliance. It had been agreed that both forces would retain their Police and Crime Commissioners and Chief Constables, and that neighbourhood and response policing would continue to be delivered and overseen locally.
The Commissioner stressed that this proposed strategic alliance was not a merger of the two forces and each would retain their own leadership and identity. This strategic alliance would look at how more resources, such as specialist police resources and office functions, could be shared. Local policing was of paramount importance and would continue to be delivered locally in response to communities’ needs.
The Deputy Chief Constable stated that he was fully supportive of this strategic alliance with the Avon & Somerset Force, it being apparent that the current level of service could not be maintained over the next three year period without change, given the likely level of cuts to be made. He was confident that the savings that would be made following the strategic alliance would significantly help to protect the front line services. Police budgets were in a very challenging state and in the coming years this collaboration would help find the savings that both forces would need to make. The Chief Constable regarded the need for officers to be visible in the local community as a high priority and he was directing more of them to patrol either on foot or by bicycle. The public required a highly responsive service and were not really concerned with the name of the Force to which the officer belonged. There had been a number of occasions when officers had been mobilised from more than one Force to attend a particular incident.
The Commissioner further reported that Dorset and Devon & Cornwall Police Forces were working towards a similar strategic alliance but the Gloucestershire Constabulary had so far decided not to collaborate with any other force to that extent.
On behalf of the Panel, the Chairman expressed general support for the proposal but did consider that every effort should be made to ensure that local policing should be preserved as a high priority and improved. The Panel would need to measure the effectiveness of this strategic alliance and would await further regular update reports.