Four police units join to create £3m saving

Beds Police, Cambridgeshire Constabulary and Hertfordshire Constabulary will have four joint units – firearms, major crime, professional standards and scientific services – after all three police authorities gave the go-ahead to strengthen the ‘Strategic Alliance’ between the three forces.

It is hoped the move will help the forces meet the financial challenges expected over the next few years and reduce the impact of the budget cuts on frontline policing.

By 2015, it is anticipated that a wide range of joint operational functions and support services – comprising more than 50 per cent of police business – will save around £20million per year.

The only areas of policing that will not be considered for joint working are local incident response, neighbourhood policing and volume crime investigation and protecting vulnerable people.

Chairman of Bedfordshire Police Authority, Peter Conniff, said: “Over the last four years Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire have built up a ground-breaking collaboration programme and now have 13 joint units delivering savings totalling £4million per year. Thanks to the Strategic Alliance, which has brought Cambridgeshire on board and seen these four three-way units established, we expect to save a further £3million per year, alongside significant performance improvements.

Chief Constable Alf Hitchcock said: “Delivering these collaborated police functions makes good sense. It means we can keep the maximum number of local officers on the streets of Bedfordshire to fight crime and protect the public, while taking these complex areas of policing jointly.”