Wiltshire Police, its funding deficit and the impact on us all….

Wiltshire Police is one of several forces across England and Wales grappling with a financial shortfall. The recent Government funding settlement leaves our local police with a £11m budget gap.

Wiltshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) has stated that he has no choice but to seek the maximum permissible increase in the police precept. This means a Band D property will pay an additional £14 per year.

While savings already achieved by the Chief Constable reduce this figure to £5.2m, it still leaves a significant financial deficit. The PCC has stated that difficult decisions will have to be made to find the required additional savings.

This is against the backdrop of low public satisfaction with Wiltshire Police. The Police and Crime Plan includes a summary of the PCC’s ‘Use your Voice’ public survey, which produced challenging results.

There is a perception that anti-social behaviour has increased. Only a third of respondents feel safe at night. Over a third rated Wiltshire Police’s effectiveness in investigating crime as adequate. Over half of the respondents who reported incidents expressed dissatisfaction with the police response.

I can sympathise with these indictments. A member of my family has suffered prolonged anti-social behaviour, and the police response has varied from poor to very supportive. The shortcomings rest in systemic failings rather than any individual officer. The root causes include excessive workloads, a lack of resources, and poor supervision.

This public dissatisfaction is mirrored in the sentiments of police officers themselves. The Wiltshire Police Federation, which represents police officers up to the rank of Chief Inspector, has stated that officer morale is at an all-time low. Nationally, officer retention is a growing concern due to low morale, pay and conditions, and the impact on mental health.

The Chief Constable has stated there will be no reduction in officer numbers, which will reassure the Police Federation. In managing the financial shortfall, the focus will fall on the police estate and fleet and not filling non-operational vacancies.

Although the details are not provided, this must raise doubts about securing a new police station in the south of Wiltshire and the redevelopment of the Devizes headquarters site. The benefits the PCC linked to these projects risk not being realised.

Keeping the public safe is not all about operational roles. Recently, Wiltshire Police made a voluntary referral to the Independent Office for Police Conduct following concerns regarding applications for information made under Clare’s Law.

Non-disclosure potentially left individuals at risk of domestic violence. While a member of staff was suspended, the absence of robust quality assurance was a major organisational failure.

Taking a broader perspective, there is the consideration of who will take up the slack when vacancies are not filled. The last thing we want is police officers taking on desk jobs rather than delivering front-line services.

The attention paid to police officer numbers is unhelpful. Many operational roles do not require the possession of a warrant card. These include surveillance, managing informants, case preparation, and interviewing suspects. Wiltshire Police has been innovative in deriving benefits from a mixed-economy workforce.

Wiltshire Police were released from special measures after achieving commendable improvements in performance. It remains to be seen whether this can be sustained with the current financial restrictions and a demoralised and inexperienced workforce.

Looking to the future, the PCC has underlined the severity of the financial situation. In an interview with the BBC, he hinted that in future years, without additional funding, managing the budget could become impossible.

The decision about the increase in the police precept rests with the Wiltshire Police and Crime Panel, a body made up of elected Councillors and Independent Members. They hold the PCC accountable on our behalf.

It seems unlikely that they will refuse the PCC’s request to increase the precept. However, they must scrutinise the proposed savings’ impact on service delivery, particularly following the results of the PCC’s public survey. There is a real threat to public confidence in policing.

Both the Chief Constable and PCC have committed to reviewing regional and national procurement and collaborative arrangements to achieve further savings. They make the point that other forces across England and Wales are facing the same financial pressures.

This raises the question of how much longer we can afford a Victorian model of policing with forty-three separate police forces across England and Wales. Reducing the number will bring economies of scale without necessarily undermining the delivery of local policing. Due to the national economic outlook, the need to explore reform is becoming increasingly urgent.