THERE will be no adverse impact on local policing following the decision of West Mercia Police to terminate its alliance with Warwickshire Police.
That’s the promise of Warwickshire Police and Crime Commissioner Philip Seccombe.
Since October’s announcement by the West Mercia detailed planning work has begun by Warwickshire Police to plan for a post-alliance future.
This has included looking at options to operate on a stand-alone basis, work with other forces and external organisations, continue some new form of collaboration with West Mercia or a combination of all of these options.
This evaluation stage is now progressing in earnest, alongside additional work to plan for the 2019-20 budget for Warwickshire Police, which will be set in February.
Mr Seccombe and Warwickshire Police’s Chief Constable Martin Jelley recently with their counterparts at West Mercia to separate their budgets which had previously been pooled.
The decision means that the funding for neighbourhood policing, patrol officers, crime investigation and roads policing will now revert to each respective force’s control from the new financial year onwards.
Warwickshire Police and Crime Commissioner Philip Seccombe said: “This agreement is good news, as it means that around 55 per cent of the policing budget reverts fully back into my control. This will allow me to ensure that the funding I am able to give to the Chief Constable for local policing across Warwickshire can be protected and will therefore be unaffected by the decision made by West Mercia to end our strategic alliance.
The force is currently recruiting new police officers into its local policing and safer neighbourhood teams.
A full public consultation on the police element of local council tax will be launched by the Commissioner later this month.
