Submission to Sussex Police Authority on Police Force Structures -

15th December 2005

We are grateful to the Sussex Police Authority for allowing us to outline our concerns about the Government’s proposals for re-structuring the provision of policing services in Sussex.

While acknowledging the importance of ensuring that Sussex Police, like any other force in Britain, is able to meet the challenge of delivering modern policing services, we are concerned at the undue haste with which these proposals have been dealt with.

Since the publication of the HM Inspectorate of Constabulary’s Report, ‘Closing the Gap’, on 16 September, the Government’s timetable has provided little opportunity for detailed study or consultation. Many people living in West Sussex are probably unaware of the possible implications of any changes to their police force as the Government’s 23 December deadline for police forces to return their proposals to the Home Office has not left enough time for any meaningful discussion to take place. Despite our best efforts there has been little opportunity to debate or scrutinise these plans in Parliament. It is disappointing that the Government has only recently agreed a debate on the floor of the House, and that this will be without a substantive motion, and only four days before the final deadline for submission.

This process is in stark contrast to the genuine debate that was facilitated by the Royal Commission and extensive consultation of the 1960s which lead to the present police force structure coming into being through the Police Act 1964.

The arbitrary nature of the Government’s timetable is matched by that of the proposals themselves. The HMIC Report concluded that forces with fewer than 4,000 officers were unlikely to be able effectively to deliver their policing services. This is despite an earlier Government study which established that there is no link between the size of police forces and their efficacy.

In respect of this, Sussex Police currently has over 6,000 officers, staff and volunteers and has been making real improvements in terms of overall performance. The Force is also highly regarded in several fields such as major crime investigation and the development of neighbourhood policing.

We are also worried that there seems to have been little consideration of the financial and practical consequences of any reorganisation. Policing in Sussex is historically under funded, as are some of the other

counties which have been suggested as partners in any possible merger. While a merger may lead to long term economies of scale, there has been limited assessment or guidance as to what the initial costs of any reorganisation would be and who would bear them.

However, our main area of concern is that of accessibility and accountability. The Sussex Police Force already serves over 1.5 million residents in Sussex with 15 districts stretching from Hastings in the East to Chichester in the West. In the face of much good work to strengthen community policing and accountability we believe that any merger with any other police force would risk making Sussex Police more distant from, and less accountable to, the communities which they serve. For those living in the villages of West Sussex a police headquarters in Lewes already seems a long way away, let alone one located in Surrey or Kent.

Little thought seems to have been given to the relationship between any larger police force and the area it would serve. Through the implementation of its Force Operational Review Sussex Police have worked hard to build strategic links, and align themselves, with existing governmental structures thereby making the force more accessible and accountable to local people. It is not clear how it would be possible to maintain such links under a much larger regional structure.

While it is sensible for local forces to co-operate and to share information with their neighbours, as Sussex already does, we do not believe that it makes sense to force an accountable and increasingly effective police force into a unitary regional structure which bares little relation to local people and the communities in which they live and work.

It is disappointing that little consideration has been possible, due to the Government’s direction, of a federal system which would perhaps enable police forces to make economies of scale, and share knowledge and expertise, within a more flexible model.

If there is a gap to be filled in protective services nationally we believe that other solutions should be looked at which would retain a local focus and county identity. We hope that the Authority will accept the advice of the Chief Constable and Chairman not to agree to the Home Secretary’s request to come forward with proposals to amalgamate Sussex with any other police force.