A Government minister is going on a New Year nationwide tour to sell the Home Office proposals for police reform to police officers.
John Denham began in Cardiff on January 7. An audience of 150 police officers and support staff from South Wales, Dyfed Powys, Gwent, Gloucestershire and West Mercia attended the first roadshow in Cardiff Central police station. Over the coming weeks Southampton MP Mr Denham is visiting London, Liverpool, Bristol, Guildford and Leicester. More venues are being considered; chief police officers have been invited to nominate a representative cross-section of their staff to attend the events. The modernisation plans were set out by the Government in December, and met much police resistance (see the January 2002 print edition of Professional Security magazine). The private security industry, meanwhile, largely welcomed the plans and pointed out that much private security-police co-operation, as proposed by Home Secretary David Blunkett, was already happening. Police wastage according to the Home Office remains fairly static at less than five per cent a year compared to the national average for all employees of 18.3 per cent. Research suggests police officers are spending almost as much time in the station (43.1pc) as on the street (41pc). See www.policereform.gov.uk.
