Police Merger Plans Spark Safety Fears in Lincolnshire
Commissioner warns ‘fewer officers in towns and villages’ under proposed changes
Plans to merge police forces across the country could put people in Lincolnshire at risk and damage the way communities are policed, the county’s Police and Crime Commissioner has warned.
Marc Jones says government proposals to reduce the number of police forces from forty-three to around twelve would increase the distance between the public and the police, and would not save money or improve efficiency.
“To do that is unnecessary and will not save money. It won't be more efficient, more effective, and puts a greater distance between the public and the police, which is absolutely against everything that our model of policing is about,” Mr Jones said.
He warned that if resources are spread across larger areas, smaller towns and villages will lose out:
“The limited resources policing has get sucked into dealing with organised crime in urban areas, and though there will be fewer police resources going out to our market towns and our villages, which is absolutely not what people pay their council tax for or their national taxation for. Everybody deserves to feel and be safe.”
Mr Jones added the changes would “take people away from the front line,” and urged ministers to look at other ways to improve policing.
“There’s a lot we can do to make policing better. This isn’t one of those things and I am really worried that it will just take officers and police staff like PCSO's away from communities, not put more into communities,” he said.
The government says the proposed changes would make policing more efficient, with an independent review expected this summer.