“It would appear that Babergh residents have little to gain from proposals to restructure policing in our area”. Such were the concluding comments from Cllr. Chris Hunt, Chairman of Babergh’s Overview & Scrutiny (Community Services) Committee after elected representatives yesterday (29th November) quizzed Alastair McWhirter, Chief Constable of the Suffolk Constabulary.
The Chief Constable both outlined the Home Office’s proposed options for amalgamating the Suffolk force in with a number of neighbouring constabularies and fielded questions from Councillors, concerned about their impact on local policing resources.
According to Cllr. Hunt, “the Chief Constable acknowledged these worries and assured us that he would be including these and similar points when making a formal response to the Home Office. It was a very useful opportunity for Councillors to represent the worries of their communities to Mr McWhirter. In particular, many Councillors were anxious that Suffolk’s achievements as a high performing and low cost force would be diluted if joined with other forces”.
The Babergh Councillors raised other issues including the potential weakening of the link between their communities and Police Authority representatives who can speak up for them, as well as the very short time (three months) allowed by the Home Office for consultation.
Babergh is writing to the Chief Constable this week, summarising its various concerns. |