Hampshire Constabulary’s Chief constable, Olivia Pinkney, has said that the force will not be able to provide the same services that it does today if funding is not increased – a stark warning that comes as the Island’s roads policing provision is cut once again.
It was claimed back in February 2015 that the Shanklin-based Roads Policing Unit was to be shelved, with it emerging 6 months later that the unit was to be drastically cut in size and merged with Armed Response in Newport.
The major restructuring of the Roads Policing Unit (RPU) on the Isle of Wight left just 2 dedicated, specialist officers locally. However, in February of this year it was revealed that they too would be cut despite Hampshire Constabulary’s Lucy Hutson saying in 2015 that the force remained ‘committed to providing specialist roads policing skills and expertise on the Island’.
The removal of a specialist RPU team on the Island altogether leaves Armed Response Officers to cover their duties, but in light of the recent terrorist attacks across the country the firearms team have been focusing on counter terrorism and providing a 24 hour response to any threat that may arise. Not only is the Island’s roads policing provision now minimal at best, on several occasions each week mainland-based officers – with little or no local knowledge – are being transported across the Solent to provide cover for short falls in the staffing rota, with the obvious associated costs.
In the past 7 years over £80million has been saved by Hampshire Constabulary, which is said to receive around £45million less than the average Police force elsewhere in the country.
In response to the current debate on police funding nationally, Chief Constable Pinkey has said that the force must ensure that they can properly resource local policing and has called for fair funding:
“We have said all along that to continue to be effective we need fair funding. Whatever people think, it is clear that the context for policing has changed and police resourcing is rightly now a national debate. As chief constable I will be part of that debate making clear that to continue to deliver safer communities we need the right funding.
“Whether that is through a fair national funding formula or through extra funding for policing overall is for others on the national stage to determine. However, we must ensure that we can properly resource local policing.
Article continues below this advertisement “As I said back in January, we are planning for the next round of funding announcements and we need early clarity.
“If funding remains the same, and despite all of the additional efficiencies we will deliver, there will be a gap starting from the next financial year. For the public that means we would not be able to provide the same services that we do today.”
Hampshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner, Michael Lane, has laid out his position on funding at https://www.hampshire-pcc.gov.uk/michael-lanes-response-queens-speech.
