Negatives of move outweigh the positives

Published on Friday 3 September 2010 20:32

IF THIS is to be a viable option, then it's got to make sure that local delivery of service is maintained as much as possible. Anything that is going to lead to different organisations working together is going to provide opportunity to save money, particularly in human resources and in terms of producing the meaningless statistics that do nothing to enhance the delivery of services. Those are the positives.

The negatives? Well, it's difficult to think of any buildings that are currently in existence that could cater for all three services. Most police stations are already full, and they are full of police officers doing vital police work. I am sure the same is true of fire and ambulance buildings. In terms of vehicles, I am not aware of any garages with spaces for fire engines, ambulances and police vehicles.

Any merger of the three services would also require significant investment in the short-term. That's at a time when we are already facing budget cuts.

We would also need to look at the structures of governance and, while that is something that could be explored, it is difficult to see how, in the time available, we would still be able to deliver the quality of service that the public quite rightly expects .

• Calum Steele is general-secretary of the Scottish Police Federation.