Statement from the Chief Constable Sean Price regarding Project I

I would like to reassure everyone that this is absolutely not the case.

It is a contractual requirement under the project that the Control Room, including the 999 service, will remain at Police Headquarters and will still include police officers, who will continue to command and control any incidents. There will be no change in terms of public service quality controls that Cleveland Police, along with every other Force, is currently subject to and independently inspected upon.

I have recently issued this following article, which outlines how private sector partnerships may help to protect frontline police numbers.

In recent years when the spectre of the three North-East police forces merging was raised the public locally let me know in no uncertain terms that they were steadfast against the idea.

Those behind the plan suggested a single regional superforce would bring cost savings and leave police better placed to tackle major incidents such as large scale organised crime and terrorism.

But the priority for the public is dedicated police officers, locally-based and seen on a daily basis out and about in the community. The fear was that a superforce based on Tyneside would be too remote from the streets of Saltburn over 60 miles away.

And whilst mergers might have brought long term cost savings, in the short term it would have cost the public millions of pounds to implement.

It came as no surprise to me that the merger plans were defeated but that doesn’t mean forces should not look at ways of working together to improve effectiveness and efficiency.

Cleveland, for example, collaborates with other forces in terms of the firearms unit, use of the force helicopter, roads policing, cross border crime and many other areas.

But in seeking out new ways to get more for each public pound we should not restrict ourselves to only working in partnership with other forces.

As an example, the world of Information Technology is constantly changing and an individual police force simply cannot afford to fund a research and development division. Linking up with a private sector IT specialist may be the best way to ensure we stay ahead of the curve.

The benefits to the public are not simply in cost, but also in service as the modern methods employed by private companies to measure and improve customer satisfaction ensure they deliver the best possible service or risk losing out to rivals when the contract next comes up for tender. Meanwhile staff benefit from the training and career prospects a specialist national or international company can offer.

Partnership working with the private sector is already a vital part of modern policing which has proved successful in Cleveland in examples such as the custody arrangements with Reliance, which have seen increased employment and promotion opportunities with no compulsory redundancies. Indeed, a report by the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee shows Cleveland was able to release 39 officers back to frontline duties as a result of working with Reliance. 

Other partnerships have provided Cleveland Police with some of the best buildings and facilities in the country, releasing more officers for front-line operations, providing state-of-the-art mobile technology in handheld devices and increasing Police Community Support Officer numbers.

Now the force is one of the first in the country to consider the possibility of involving a private sector partner in delivering a far wider range of support services.
 
As well as IT and some aspects of the Control Room operations originally included in the project, the two potential partners short listed by the Cleveland Police Authority - Capgemini/Reliance and Steria - will be asked to come forward with proposals for other ‘back office’ activities.

This is an exercise that would have made good sense at any time because every penny we can save is pumped back into supporting frontline policing and every resource hour saved allows police officers to spend more time on the beat.

But it is particularly prudent at a time when all the noises coming from the major parties suggest severe public sector funding cuts following the General Election. Many forces will face a stark choice – improve efficiency or lose frontline police numbers.

I am acutely aware of how tight finances have become for many local families and how even the smallest percentage rises in the local precept can impact. Similarly, I am aware that every pound the police take from the Exchequer nationally is a pound that doesn’t go to Health or Education or other public services.

I also understand staff concerns and so we are looking for assurances that transferees to a private company would be employed under their existing terms and conditions, pension rights would be protected and they would have a guarantee of no compulsory redundancies for several years.

That is a guarantee that cannot currently be provided to public sector employees where funding is determined on an annual basis. Similarly I doubt there are many private sector employees who feel their jobs are guaranteed for several years.

Nothing has yet been agreed and it won’t be unless the deal is right for the public and police but in my opinion it would be negligent of the force not to at least look at the possibility of a link-up that could potentially save the force millions of pounds, plugging the finance gap expected from public sector cuts.

I can also re-assure the public that whether staff working for the police are employed by the force itself or a private company the stringent checks and balances on both the individual and the performance will remain.

For example, staff would still have to meet the national call handling standards of answering 90% of all switchboard calls within 30 seconds and within 10 seconds for 999 calls.

Staff working for the police will still have to undergo security checks and sworn officers will always take charge of all police operations.

The buck will still stop with me as Chief Constable and with Coun Dave McLuckie, the Chair of the Police Authority. We would rightly be held to account by the public, politicians and media should things go wrong.

I am very proud of the fact that Cleveland recorded the country’s highest crime fall last year. Even more so because it is the fifth successive year that crime has fallen and total crime in Cleveland is now the lowest on record.

Last year we had 26,300 fewer victims of crime in Cleveland than just seven years ago. That benefits the public not just in terms of safer streets but also lower insurance premiums.

Success is down to Neighbourhood Policing, the visible, accessible policing service the public called for when rejecting force mergers. This public support is reflected in the fact that the independent public confidence surveys carried out for the Home Office have repeatedly placed Cleveland amongst the top performing forces in the country.

It is a success we are determined to build on and to do that we must continually investigate ways of improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the force whilst ensuring a fair deal for our dedicated officers and staff.