Police chief plans united fight against crime bosses

A NEW deputy chief constable for Yorkshire starts work today to help the region’s police forces to work more closely together and save money in the face of savage budget cuts.

Mark Whyman, who has held senior roles with South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire Police, will head a team of officers devoted to breaking up major criminal enterprises which spread beyond county borders.

He has also been told to secure “value for money” in policing between the region’s four forces – South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, North Yorkshire and Humberside – which are braced for a squeeze on funding after the General Election.

His appointment comes only a week after South Yorkshire Police’s chief constable Meredydd Hughes told the Yorkshire Post he expected to see his force of officers shrink by up to 15 per cent within the next three to five years.

Mr Whyman, 47, was formerly an assistant chief constable in South Yorkshire, where he was responsible for personnel, corporate communications, criminal justice and offender management.

He has also been an acting assistant chief constable at West Yorkshire Police, and he took on command roles during the Bradford riots in 2001 and the South Yorkshire floods in 2007.

He said: “I have seen policing challenges shift and grow throughout my 25-year policing career and can clearly see the benefits of working across force boundaries. As criminals become more mobile and exploit technology, we are working together to utilise innovative technology and specialist skills.”

The region’s forces have agreed to collaborate more on major investigations and to standardise “back office” operations like human resources.

A regional roads policing team, comprising officers from all four, has made more than 500 arrests and seized more than 4.75m in assets from criminals since its launch in September 2008.

Organised crime is being targeted by a regional intelligence unit, and a regional asset recovery team has been set up to strip criminals of their ill-gotten gains.

With both Labour and the Conservatives hinting at public spending cuts after the election, Mr Whyman is likely to be asked to find even more ways of pooling resources to save money.

The four forces began collaborating in 2005 when there was a proposal – later dropped – to merge them.

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