Time to map out a plan for Villa's future
- Says blogger Matthew Turvey
Police jobs to be lost
Thursday 18th February 2010, 11:30AM GMT.
Police jobs will be lost in the West Midlands as the force makes cuts and savings of £50 million over the next four years, the region’s most senior officer has warned.
Chief Constable Chris Sims said he expected “significant cuts in funding across the public sector”.
Senior positions are expected to go as well as back-room and support roles.
Mr Sims said he believed he could make the £50 million of cuts without reducing front-line police numbers, but the force has not ruled out officer cuts if more budget reductions are needed.
Asked how many jobs would go, he said: “It will mean fewer jobs over a period of time but we’re not yet at the stage of being specific. It’s been quite difficult for police staff because clearly the sort of changes we’re making puts some of their posts at risk over a period of time.
“The advantage is that when we talk about the savings, that is over in effect a four year period, so we’ve got time to manage down vacancies and the natural wastage to get to the structure we want.”
Mr Sims said: “We can save £50 million over three years from April, 2011. I can continue to improve services, by using more technology and changing the way we operate.”
“My job is to make these changes in the most orderly way as possible, protect front line policing and take the pain at the support end,” he said. “We will find £50 million. The issue is will it be enough?”
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Why don’t they save money by stop fining people for blowing there noses or taking a drink whilst at a traffic light.
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What front line policing?
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So they propose all these cut back’s but he does’nt mind his merry men standing inside and out of football groungs controlling thugs, thats why when you phone the police to say youve had your house broken into they dont want to know, all our money goes to help controll football freak’s.
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the football teams themselves actually pay the police during football matches so keep your comments to yourself
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All football clubs are presented with a bill for the whole cost of the policing inside and out. So its not actually “your” money unless of course you have paid your 30 quid to get in the game.
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YES… they are still being paid by us, the taxpayer, during the time they are at the match which, although the FC pay an extra amount, means that WE are paying for a service we are not receiving!! I’ve not received any of that cash the police have received from the FCs as a refund….
Easy solution… abolish the practice of the police being allowed to do football moonlighters and backhanders!
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I had my house broken into,
called the police and had 3 police cars there in 3 minutes.
Couldnt fault the service they gave, even had CSI round the next day to take finger prints!
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SM – briefly speaking, police are able to use powers of arrest to detain troublemakers (or act as a deterrent), direct foot and vehicle traffic in order to reduce the possibility of “flash-points” and decrease the impact of increased numbers of vehicles on the general public, impose licensing restrictions to mitigate against drunkeness and drink-fuelled disorder at/around stadia, use intelligence gathered nationwide and locally to identify likely hooligans, deploy a wide range of tools as appropriate (helicopters, dogs, “riot” officers) and have professionals at all levels who are trained in what they do – from the bobby on the front-line to the guy overseeing the operation – and have the experience and expertise to do it well.
Private security on the other hand, does not have and cannot do, any of the above.
Who pays for this? The football club, in the main.
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What a totally pig ignorant article.
It would be interesting to ascertain what your exact status is.
Soccer hooligan perhaps???
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Oh dear….
Another mess from nu-liebour.
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jj.clubs should get there own security and not take up police time where its really needed. Basically as i said we pay our money to them for a service that’s half baked.
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sm i don’t see how you have an argument, the clubs pay the police for a service, the money then goes back into the force which is welcome revenue indeed!!
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SM – briefly speaking, police are able to use powers of arrest to detain troublemakers (or act as a deterrent), direct foot and vehicle traffic in order to reduce the possibility of “flash-points” and decrease the impact of increased numbers of vehicles on the general public, impose licensing restrictions to mitigate against drunkeness and drink-fuelled disorder at/around stadia, use intelligence gathered nationwide and locally to identify likely hooligans, deploy a wide range of tools as appropriate (helicopters, dogs, “riot” officers) and have professionals at all levels who are trained in what they do – from the bobby on the front-line to the guy overseeing the operation – and have the experience and expertise to do it well.
Private security on the other hand, does not have and cannot do, any of the above.
Who pays for this? The football club, in the main.
Any objections, SM?
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What does this mean for the hundreds of police applicants waiting to be processed, as featured in the Express and Star last week I believe?
I think rather than keep on about football, which is one a week…..what about every night of the week dealing with the drunk and drugged up people blighting our town centres.
I would say that these people take up a lot more time than six hours on a Saturday afternoon.
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Cut backs are all we need in the police force
every criminals dream. And what about the policing pledge being advertised on T.V.saying we will be seeing more police on our streets’ how is that going to happen when they are cutting back did we the tax payer pay for this false advertising i wonder ?
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PCSOs? They’re cheaper aren’t they?
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WEst Midalnds Police is top heavy with civilian staff. There should be major cut backs and that would help to put officers on the streets instead of becoming like the fire brigade waiting for a SHOUT. Cut back on H & S which is totally ouit of control ( Civilian led) I don’t think for one minute thaty there will be any improvement to the Policing of streets in tghe suburbs where the sight of a Police officer patrolling on foot is a forgotten legend !!
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That doesn’t make sense ! The civilian workers, of which I know a couple quite well, do essential jobs which would otherwise need to be done by… guess who…. POLICE OFFICERS !!! By making the ‘major cutbacks’ you want, officers WON’T be able to get out on the streets as they will have to do the day to day tasks that can be done by civilian staff. Take your example of H&S – ANY large company will need H&S staff to comply with regulations, not just the Police. Would you rather that be done by a civilian on about £20K or a Police Officer on £30K+ and also not be out on the streets ???? Think before you speak ! Also, all these redundant ex-Police staff will be very grateful for you wishing them out of a job in the current climate, claiming benefits, what will you say then ?
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the west midlands police civilian workers do a good job, its not their fault the greedy bankers got this country in the mess its in, but its people like them who have to pay the price for the mess though with the budget cutbacks.
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Civilian staff are more cost effective.. why pay a Police Office 35k to answer phones, work in front offucers, do admin tasks, look after prisoners etc .. when a full trained professional civilian police staff member to do the same job for about 20k. Saving the tax payer money.. seems a false economy to me
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if office staff are let go it will be left to the police officers to cover, so bang goes the extra officers on the streets, anyone commiting a crime knows if anyone reports them they have from 30mins to 5hrs before the police arrive and thats if they are going to respond.
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Seems like the Police are as useless as every other Local and National Government body.
Cut the ‘managers’ and keep the ‘worker bees’. Commonsense, but looking at who is in charge, you do wonder how they got promoted.
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over a period of three years we have called out the police about thirty times over concerns to our safety as we are all seniour citizens and cannot defend ourselves they have come out three times and say they are to busy so what differance will it mean if there are police cuts
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If I was you I would be more concerned with the changes to the Geographical Policing areas. They are going from 21 ‘OCU’ (Operational Command Units) to 10 Yes (TEN) LPUs (Local Policing Units)
I was told this at my currently ‘Local’ neighbourhood meeting as the Officers on the team told me they did not have any dates for their next meeting as the teams were changing completely and they would all have bigger areas to cover as the Police were adopting the local Ward areas used! Looking at the areas they are merging Steelhouse Lane, Queens Road and Thornhill Road which are all currently three separate OCUs will become ONE LPU!
Thats without including part of Kingstanding also being added to that area and part of Ladywood too!
They also said lots of them were being moved! How this gives the long term work needed a chance to be resolved in some places, by moving Officers, is beyond me!
It will not work and will mean areas will end up fighting over their Neighbourhood Priority’s as the area the Officers cover will increase while their numbers reduce.
I also pity Officers covering from Kingstanding to Ladywood on the 999 teams. What if they get into a situation that requires help? The areas are so densely populated and busy it will take a lot longer for colleagues to arrive!
I have a friend who works for Staffordshire Police where this Chief Constable came from. He told me that he made changes there that didn’t work and when he left they changed them back?
Also I was told that my local Station, that will remain nameless to protect the Officers who told me all this would be having its name changed! They are doing this across the Force!
How will this SAVE money? It will cost hundreds of thousands, if not millions to do and people will still give them their road name as that is easily remembered!
I could go on but come April when these changes start you will see the difference. The Policing Pledge the Home Office have spent millions promoting is just Labour Spin to get them re-elected!
You have been warned.
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Why doesn’t someone look at how many sergeants, inspectors and higher ranks there are now compared to 20 years ago, but the numbers of the lowly constable has hardly changed.
As usual….top heavy. So start making the cuts at the top where they never leave their offices and keep the uniform on the streets.
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Things can’t be left to slip much more.An old lady complained to me yesterday that she had to wait in a queue for 17 minutes yesterday on a 0845 number.She was complaining about an apparent bogus insurance enquiry from someone who used a leak to try and get her credit card number and date of birth.Her house is isolated and she will soon be 90.Obviously she was frightened.Given that recently an up-market car was stolen round the corner under the nose of the owner,a middle-aged lady,apparent hitherto “safe” areas are no longer so.I also had to chase someone in the middle of night who had been kicking in the fence at the first property.
The helicopter that often buzzes around could have solved none of these everyday problems,but it should be possible to easily mention the information.
Another point I have already raised with the police is access from abroad.0800 numbers are lovely,but only work from the UK.Often families abroad-and we are very numerous-have worries about a dear one locally.I had to do a lot of research to find a way to contact the West Midlands police.
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Lets cut through the anti-police rhetoric here and look at the broader picture. Why do we have 43 Police Forces, with 43 highly paid Chief Constables and attendant management structure in such a small geographical area that England is? It is time to look once again at amalagamation of forces with economies of scale that that would entail or perhaps even more drastic three Police Forces North, Central and South. The reorganisation would be costly at first but at the moment we are just patching a creaking organisation up with sticking plaster.
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