Thin blue line under threat

Collaboration between those forces has grown since they signed an agreement two years ago which is a welcome and eminently sensible response to cross-border issues; it is to be regretted that the focus of such co-operation has now shifted from the original intention of providing additional capacity for fighting organised crime, having been overtaken by the necessity to save money.

Let us not forget that the jury is still out on the financial benefits of collaboration; only last month, the finance directors of the four forces pointed out that it remained unclear whether a regional approach or the work in individual areas was responsible for savings already made.

There can be no doubt that whatever economies are necessary, each of the forces will protect front-line policing at all costs. Nevertheless, a public which consistently insists that it finds reassurance in the visible presence of officers, also needs to know that specialist back-up is also available.

Moreover, the suggestion that some services might even be outsourced is not one that inspires confidence; if such services are currently considered best carried out within the forces, then outsourcing is plainly a second-best option. However the savings are delivered, one truism applies; fewer resources mean, at some level, a diminished service.

The pressure that the four forces find themselves under presents the chief constable of each with uncomfortable choices at a time when they are already braced for the inevitable upheaval resulting from the election of police commissioners, all of whom will doubtless bring their own agenda with them.

The Government has no option but to save substantial amouunts of money after the profligacy of the Labour years. Nevertheless, it sits ill that the party of law and order is squeezing our police; there will be a price to pay at the ballot box.