Mayor Dave Hodgson Challenges Police Chiefs Over Merger Plans

Mayor Dave Hodgson has warned Chief Constable Gillian Parker and Police Authority Chair Peter Conniff that concerns of Bedford Borough residents must not be swept aside in a headlong rush to merge the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Police Forces. The Police Chiefs delivered a briefing to the Mayor and to Bedford Borough Councillors about future plans last week and made clear their belief that the forces should be merged. Mayor Dave Hodgson, however, challenged the plans and said that residents would lose out if the tough decisions that need to be taken over local policing in their community are made more remotely.

Commenting, Mayor Dave Hodgson said: "I came away from the briefing with the Chief Constable and Police Authority Chair with even more concerns than I had before. There seems to be a settled view at the top of the police locally that Bedfordshire's Force must merge with Hertfordshire's, but I worry that the overriding motivation to save money means that the issues that matter to local communities are being overlooked. For example, local residents rightly want a local, accountable police force which they feel they can trust. We heard on Wednesday that a merger would save money, but we did not hear much about how it would improve local policing and strengthen it in those areas.'

"People across the Borough already worry that the police force is too distant from them. If the Bedfordshire Force is merged with the larger Hertfordshire Force this perception will only grow, and there would be a real danger that the focus of local policing will shift to larger centres to the south. Meanwhile, we were offered no assurances on Wednesday that Bedford Borough would have any sort of voice in the governance arrangements of a merged force. To have nobody representing Bedford Borough in the governance of local policing would be utterly unacceptable.'

"I am of course only too well aware that major savings have to be found across public sector organisations. But I am not satisfied that the police has looked at other options sufficiently, such as joint arrangements with other public sector bodies. They have made no contact with either myself or the Council's Chief Executive to discuss joint working with the Council, for example.'

"I am adamant that the interests of local residents and the safety of our local communities must come first in any consideration of the future of policing in Bedford Borough."

The proposal for a merger of the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Forces will be considered at a Bedfordshire Police Authority meeting on Friday July 16th. The proposal will be subject to public consultation, if approved by the Police Authority.