Crime commissioners oppose 'mega force' merger

Suffolk's police and crime commissioner (PCC) has reaffirmed his opposition to any "mega force" or large regional force to replace the county's constabulary.

Tim Passmore said the idea of Suffolk merging with forces in Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire and Norfolk would not be in the interests of the largely rural county.

He said he was "deeply concerned that our community policing in remote rural areas like we have here in Suffolk and, to be fair, in Norfolk will actually be annihilated, and all the money, all the resource will flow to areas on the London fringe and large urban areas".

Norfolk PCC Colin Sutton has also expressed his desire for a merger with Suffolk instead of the creation of a regional force.

The Home Office has been asked to comment on its future plans and review of police forces.

Speaking to BBC Radio Suffolk, Passmore said the public would notice a difference in policing if a "mega force" was created.

He said: "We really need to be quite clear and unambiguous with the evidence that it's going to improve policing for people in Suffolk. Otherwise, what's the point of doing it?"

The commissioner said he welcomed improvement and collaboration, especially under the current relationship with Norfolk Police.

"We have seven forces for procurement. We have the Eastern Region Special Operations Unit. And my personal opinion is [that we should] focus on the things that we already have and look to improve them," said Passmore.

"A restructure of five or six forces going into one mega force could be very, very distracting."

Passmore, who had been opposed to a full two-county merger between Norfolk and Suffolk, said he had changed his view, in what he described as a "defensive move".

"If we are forced to do mergers, we will need to look at what the options are with Norfolk," said Passmore.

He also questioned how the government's ambitions for more "devolution and greater local control" fitted "with creating a large mega force".

In January, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood confirmed she was looking into changes in policing structures.

On the merging of forces, the Home Office said a review on the precise number and nature of each force was expected to report back in the summer.

Meanwhile, in an accountability meeting on Tuesday with Sutton, the county's Chief Constable Paul Sanford said: "I also expect that smaller mergers might also be part of that [Home Office] review."

He added: "We have been in a collaboration with Suffolk Constabulary for 15, 16 years now.

"It has been remarkably effective. It's delivered tens of millions of pounds-worth of savings to the taxpayers of Norfolk."

He added that it was "becoming increasingly challenging to sustain a 43-police force model".

Sutton, who also questioned the benefits of a wider, regional police force, told the BBC: "The government has said [it is] looking for a pathfinder force to show how it could be done.

"So our case to them has been, we are in a position, we're in the best position of any two forces in the country to go forward and have this merger. We can do it quickly, we can do it cleanly."

The government is getting rid of police and crime commissioners in 2028 to save money, some of which it said would be reinvested in neighbourhood policing.

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