Warwickshire and West Mercia to form alliance

A force alliance between Warwickshire Police and West Mercia Constabulary is looking increasingly likely after chief constables from both forces were invited to consider the benefits of working together.

Both forces must cut their budget by a total of £56.9 million in the next four years and their authorities believe that a strategic alliance between the forces could help achieve the huge savings.

The proposals will be presented to both forces at the end of May and will exclude local policing arrangements. Both Warwickshire and West Mercia are also keen to stress that the plans will not lead to a force merger.

Each force will maintain its own identity, local policing and priority setting will not form part of the alliance and governance and budget setting arrangements will continue as they are. However, everything else will be discussed and considered for collaborative working.

A Warwickshire Police spokesperson said the fast-time review will not simply look to make one department out of two, it will seek to identify innovative ways and new processes to be more efficient.

Both forces already share a number of services with other forces, such as police air support but the authorities hope that this will bring more savings at a quicker pace.

The spokesperson said he was not aware of any proposals to share chief officers at this point.
Sheila Blagg, chair of West Mercia Police Authority said that both forces sit within the same “family of forces” and that they had more similarities than differences.
She said: “In terms of how we can support local policing resources and protective services, our needs are very similar.
“There is a desire to build upon these similarities and closely examine the potential of a two force partnership which, if taken forward with a shared purpose, drive and vision, would enable benefits to be delivered more quickly than any other form of alliance.”
Ian Francis, chair of Warwickshire Police Authority said: “We are all very excited by the potential additional value that a strategic alliance can deliver, both financially and in terms of protection for local communities.”
He added that both forces and authorities have a track record of delivering change in an “innovative and successful manner”.