Superintendents’ jobs axed to put ‘bobbies on the beat’

The new chief constable of a Scottish force has decided to axe dozens of superintendent posts in order to free up £2 million to boost the numbers of bobbies on the beat.

Steve House, the chief constable of Strathclyde, Scotland’s biggest force, believes the shake-up will pay for 150 new recruits.

The extra spending on community officers will satisfy a clamour from politicians and the public for more frontline police.

Hundreds of office-bound police have also been given annual quotas of weekend shifts policing crime hotspots, such as Glasgow city centre – a move that has disgruntled many officers.

Mr House, a former assistant commissioner with the Metropolitan Police in London, who moved to Scotland last November, has compared Strathclyde with other forces of similar size, such as Greater Manchester, and concluded it is top-heavy.

It is understood the number of superintendent posts – which come with a salary in the region of £60,000 – will be slashed from 85 to about 55.

Greater Manchester Police which like Strathclyde, has about 8,000 officers, has only 59 superintendents.

The cuts will be phased in over the next three years and will be delivered largely by not replacing retiring officers with others who would hold the same rank, but instead giving lower-ranked officers more responsibility.

Representative bodies, including the Scottish Police Federation and the Association of Scottish Police Superintendents, have been consulted and are broadly supportive.

But Raymond Pratt, secretary of the Strathclyde Police Federation, said some chief inspectors were upset at the loss of promotion opportunities, which could lead to an exodus of experienced officers from the force.

He said: “The chief constable is trying to get more officers in the frontline through streamlining the posts. In principle, we don’t have any objections to that. The management structure needs to be flattened out – but we also need to take into account career progression.”

Mr House is expected to implement a number of structural changes to make the force more efficient. One will involve giving chief inspectors more responsibilities by putting them in charge of subdivisions currently headed by superintendents. Another will be to reduce the number of subdivisions.

Cuts are also likely to be targeted at non-operational departments, such as personnel and corporate planning. These are currently headed by a chief superintendent with a number of superintendents as deputies.

Under the plan, there would be fewer deputy posts, with a small number of chief superintendent posts also likely to be cut. Desk-bound police – who currently work nine-to-five shifts – will be forced to spend a dozen Fridays and Saturdays every year on street patrol.

Mr House said: “Since taking over the post of chief constable, I have made it quite clear publicly that my main priority is to free up all resources within the organisation to increase the number of frontline police officers across the force. This is what the public quite rightly demand.

“As a result, the force is currently carrying out a number of reviews to look at back-office structure and middle and senior-management posts.

“One of these reviews is around superintendents’ posts and is ready for approval.”

The chief constable added: “I’m sure that this, along with other initiatives, will allow the people of Strathclyde to see more foot-patrol officers on their street, tackling violence and antisocial behaviour in the community.”