Yorkshire: Police hit out over merger of regional services EXCLUSIVE

Discussions about combining key services are under way between all four of the region’s forces which are battling a 20 per cent Home Office cut to their budgets.

From next month, a controversial merger of underwater search teams will see the start of a reduction in the number of police divers from 28 to 10.

From October, a new National Police Air Service coordinated by West Yorkshire Police is to be launched, with 30 bases reduced to 23 across England and Wales and 31 aircraft reduced to 25 – plus three support craft.

Elsewhere, mounted sections are under review, while the forces expect to save up to £9m a year through a new joint scientific support unit handling forensic work.

Collaborations began with investment to boost the region’s capability to investigate serious and organised crime, with the creation of specialist units to tackle cross-border criminals.

But its focus has since shifted to identifying savings, and even the team delivering it faces annual budget cuts of three per cent for the next three years.

Now the South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire Police Federations have told the Yorkshire Post they have grave concerns over the depth and scale of the plans.

Andrew Tempest-Mitchell, chairman of the West Yorkshire Police Federation, said: “Everything has been under review since 2010. Anything and everything.

“It doesn’t feel good, but we can understand it is a way of saving considerable amounts of money.

“We are not sure exactly how this will go but there have been some successes. However the police federation is really concerned about the potential impact of the collaboration and consolidation and there is no actual time where this will stop.

“All areas seem to be being picked off really because of the financial savings. With the mounted officers there certainly is a public safety issue.”

South Yorkshire Police Authority has successfully fought to keep a police helicopter within the county following the announcement of the new National Police Air Service, which will launch in October.

The Government says 97 per cent of the population of England and Wales will be within 20 minutes’ flying time for NPAS which will offer a 24-hour service, seven days a week, that many support units currently cannot manage.

But Jim Lucas, joint branch board secretary of the South Yorkshire Police Federation, says it is feared the service will soon start to have a negative impact on crime rates.

“It will operate a 10-hour shift, changing from a service of 19 hours that it operates at the moment,” he said. “When it changes we will be reliant on West Yorkshire, Humberside and Derbyshire outside of that time.

“It is the question of if it will be available, but also the helicopter will be coming from vast areas and the travelling time people had in the past is going to be greatly increased. The public will see a decreased service and I can see it having a serious impact on crime.”

The National Air Police Service will be implemented in stages from October 1 until 2014.

“This is the start of the future for policing in its entirety,” said Chief Supt Ian Whitehouse of West Yorkshire Police. “It will place West Yorkshire as being a police force that has the capacity to deliver strategic policing. We will retain jobs within West Yorkshire and gain the experience and expertise of running a national service.”