Dorset Police is the lowest centrally funded of the forty three police forces of England and Wales.
The 2013-2014 Grant Settlement has seen Dorset receive less funding than the formula calculates as appropriate. If we were to receive the average national funding per capita, we would have an extra £16m to spend this year – that equates to 842 more Bobbies on the Beat! (@ £19k starting salary)
Add 20% cuts to the already inequitable share of the money and there is potential for disaster.
Dorset has lost an astounding 340 police officers since 2007 – 23% of our total number of officers. By 2018, due to anticipated further cuts we stand to lose a total of at least 468 warranted police officers – 31% of our police officer numbers! Additionally we have lost hundreds of police staff.
Putting Dorset police officer losses into perspective, 468 is the equivalent of losing every officer in Weymouth, Portland, Dorchester, Bridport, Lyme Regis, Sherborne, Blandford, Shaftesbury, Gillingham, Sturminster Newton, and Beaminster, or, to losing every police officer in Bournemouth, Christchurch and some of Poole.
We are expected to do more with less but the unfair funding situation severely challenges resilience and capability. By 2018 we will barely have one thousand officers to police a diverse busy and burgeoning county, with its fourteen million a year visitors, a thriving night-time economy in the urban towns, an international airport, seaports and half of the population dispersed across large rural areas.
Last week the Police and Crime Commissioner for Dorset, Martyn Underhill issued a statement highlighting his concerns over funding and said: ”I continue to lobby the government for extra funds. We are the lowest funded force and have seen the worst cuts. This is wrong, and I will continue to fight this.” He also announced that he was having to explore the potential of ‘sponsorship’ with a view to securing funding from the private sector, had spoken with a possible sponsor and that other PCCs within the South West Region had expressed an interest.
Sponsorship is not new to the police service; London’s Metropolitan force came under fire last year after it became public knowledge that they had secured £22.7m from sponsors. Any such arrangements are subject to rigorous parameters including a 1% limit of the force’s total annual income, none of the statutory functions of the force should be dependent on this funding and companies cannot interfere with the duties of the police.
Whatever the assurances, surely it cannot be right that in order to make ends meet a police force, which must remain and more importantly be seen to remain completely independent may be driven, through desperation, to emblazon the logos of private companies on patrol cars, around police stations and on letterheads?
There was huge media interest in Mr Underhill’s comments and one would have hoped some embarrassment at the Treasury and Home Office that such measures have to be considered due to the poor central funding – but I am not so sure. It seems as if they may be pushing to promote the use of private sector organisations which many of us have long suspected.
Only last week in a speech at the Royal United Services Institute the Chief Inspector of Constabulary Tom Winsor said:
“Forces and police and crime commissioners will, as a matter of necessity, need to find new ways of exploiting opportunities to save money whilst maintaining operational integrity and increasing effectiveness. The provision of services to police forces by private sector organisations, and agencies and organisations in the public sector, is likely to increase markedly, as efficiencies and economies have to be found.”
My colleague from Avon & Somerset Kevin Phillips warned of sponsorship as being: “privatisation through the back door”. He also said: “Once you start entering into sponsorship deals you start losing the independence of the police”
I believe that the funding formula is the area that needs addressing urgently. It is clearly wrong that some forces receive over three quarters of their grant from central government … and others, like Dorset, receive less than half with the burden being placed on the local Taxpayer.
I would hope that all Members of Parliament within our county will work with the Police and Crime Commissioner and Chief Constable to achieve fair funding for Dorset Police. The local Bobby has already been added to the endangered species list – let’s make sure that he/she does not become extinct and consigned to the annals of history.
Clive Chamberlain
Chairman
Dorset Police Federation
The Police Federation is the staff association, representing 95 per cent of all serving police officers from the rank of Constable to Chief Inspector
DORSET POLICE FEDERATION POLICE HEADQUARTERS WINFRITH DORCHESTER DT2 8DZ
Tel: (01305) 223732
Blog from PCC Martyn Underhill on Sponsorship
https://www.dorset.pcc.police.uk/Your-PCC/Martyns-Blog/Sponsorship-.aspx
BBC News report re Metropolitan Police Sponsorship
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20156574
ACPO Guidelines on Sponsorship and other financial initiatives https://www.acpo.police.uk/documents/finance/2010/201006FRGIG01.pdf
