Merging West Midlands and Staffordshire Police to make 'super force' is 'barmy', says MP
Merging West Midlands and Staffordshire Police to make a 'super force' is a 'barmy idea' that will lead to more crime, a top Tory MP has said.
South Staffordshire MP Gavin Williamson said rural areas would lose out as more resources were pumped into cities any proposed merger.
He said it was clear Wolverhampton and Dudley already lost out because they were tied in with Birmingham.
"This is a barmy idea and one that has no support from my constituents in South Staffordshire.
"We know full well what would happen – rural crime would drop down in the priority and people in Staffordshire would suffer as a result.
"You can see that crime in South Staffordshire is much lower than even the bordering areas with the West Midlands. This is because Staffordshire Police recognises and priorities tackling rural crime."
Mr Williamson, a parliamentary aide to David Cameron, said the merger of Scotland's forces into one 'super force' had created 'pandemonium'.
He said: "We can see in Scotland that by creating one big force you lose all sense of perspective and get tangled up in internal politics.
"Police chiefs should be less concerned with empire building and more concerned with serving their existing communities. You can see how Wolverhampton, Dudley and parts of the Black Country suffer as a result of being tied in with Birmingham."
His comments come after outgoing West Midlands Chief Constable Chris Sims said he regretted more hadn't been done to merge forces into so-called 'super forces' or work closer together.
He said he saw benefits in one force serving the whole of the West Midlands but acknowledged there was no 'political appetite'.
But he still believes running 43 police forces in England and Wales is not sustainable in the future.
Mr Sims told the Express & Star earlier this week: ""Having been chief constable in Staffordshire and then at West Midlands, I probably hoped we would be further down the track with the work we do with other regional forces.
"We still run motorway policing and more serious organised crime work together. But if you asked me six or seven years ago, I would have thought there would be more convergence."
Plans to merge West Midlands, Staffordshire, Warwickshire and West Mercia forces into a so-called 'super force' were mooted a decade ago when Mr Sims was Deputy Chief Constable at West Midlands.
At the time he said £23 million would be saved a year allowing more officers to be recruited. But after five years of government austerity, Mr Sims still believes it is still the best option.
