WILTSHIRE Police is undertaking a review of the force hierarchy to try to reduce bureaucracy, and the first decision to be made is to remove the rank of chief inspector.

Other senior ranks among both officers and staff are also under review, but no jobs are under threat as the force intends to rely on a natural turnover of staff over a period of time.

The move comes amid cuts to the police budget imposed by Government that will see the force having to cut £15m from its £106m annual budget by 2015 and a further six per cent by 2016. Wiltshire Police Chief Constable Pat Geenty said the aim is to “provide our communities with the best possible service and protect them from harm” and that to continue to do so the force needs to be “bold, innovative and courageous in the way we approach policing”.

He said he believes the best starting point is to look at the way the organisation is structures and to see if the hierarchy can be streamlined while still maintaining service to the public.

“It’s important that we are able to react quickly and effectively when the public need us – part of that relates to the technology we use but a bigger part is around the human side of things,” he said.

The primary goals of the current review are to create a flatter organisation, where frontline officers and staff are more empowered to make decisions in the best interests of the public, and to help the Force protect frontline policing numbers.

“Clearly the removal of any rank structures, whether they are police officer or police staff, requires careful and considered management,” said Mr Geenty. “This is not something that we can achieve overnight nor would we want to. It will start with the removal of the chief inspector rank but we will be reviewing other senior police officer and staff ranks and roles too.

“The force has no immediate plans to use forced exit procedures for the officers involved and we will instead be relying on natural turnover over a longer period of time.

“We’ll be working closely with the individuals concerned throughout this process, as we will their staff associations, to ensure that the new structure is robust, resilient and utilises the expertise and knowledge of the current incumbents.”