Council resists police reforms

11:29am Thursday 15th December 2005

SALISBURY district council is to spearhead an eleventh-hour fight to save Wiltshire Constabulary from a merger with other forces.

Under controversial government plans, Wiltshire, which is one of the oldest forces in the country, could end up as part of a regional superforce'.

The home office says that rural police forces are too small and need to merge to combat more effectively the growing threats of terrorism and organised crime.

Plans for amalgamation are well advanced and until now there has been little or no organised resistance to the move in Wiltshire.

But at its full meeting on Monday night, Salisbury district council voted overwhelmingly to make a stand against government proposals and to urge all other councils in Wiltshire and county MPs to oppose any merger by lobbying ministers.

Councillors supported a motion from Liberal Democrat member Paul Sample, congratulating the Wiltshire force on its success in preventing and detecting crime and commending it for working with local councils and community organisations in "making the county one of the safest in England".

The motion went on to say the council believed that the size of Wiltshire Constabulary and its ability to consult and communicate effectively with the local community had enabled it to deploy resources in an effective way. It noted that larger, more regional forces were often less successful in delivering effective policing.

The motion concluded by regretting government proposals to merge the force, saying such a move would "not be in the best interests of Wiltshire".

Only Labour members opposed the motion, saying that, while local policing was good, a sharing of resources and merger of forces was necessary in order to fight modern-day crime.

Tory members described the government's merger plans as being part of a process of "undemocratically imposed creeping regionalisation".

Mr Sample, a former member of the Wiltshire police authority, said that local police forces, operating in their own communities, were far more effective than the "large, faceless forces" functioning in some other parts of the country.

"We have an excellent force in Wiltshire with a terrific record of fighting crime and we should follow the example of Hampshire in rejecting amalgamated constabularies," he said.

Conservative councillor for Wilton Anthony Brown-Hovelt said he found it inconceivable that, after years of protecting the area's many military bases, Wiltshire police were now being deemed as not up to combating terrorism.

The home office has put forward two options for future policing in the south-west region.

One is for a strategic force for the whole region and the other is for a stand-alone Devon and Cornwall force and a merged force comprising Avon and Somerset, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Dorset.

Meanwhile, Wiltshire Constabulary and the county's police authority are continuing to work on two further options a stand-alone Wiltshire force and a strategic amalgamation of Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and Dorset.