Too many police chiefs? - A review of police strength and costs in England & Wales 2010
Concluding Summary
CHIEF POLICE OFFICERS & SENIOR MANAGEMENT TEAMS
The present rank structure at management level is top heavy, causing a wasteful drain on finances, a blurring of responsibilities and direction with the knock on effect of a reduction in respect and faith in management from the grass roots level of policing. There are too many Chiefs whose roles and effectiveness are of doubtful value to say the least. Performance targeting and corruptive financial incentives have misguided the emphasis of police management from essential operational matters to bean counting and box ticking. At the ACPO and SMT levels, officers have become too overtly politicised, with a bias toward the Government of the day and their political objectives, rather than the ultimate public they serve. Police officers swear an oath to Queen and country not to any one political master or party.
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ACPO Ranks totalled 221 within the force numbers. The ACPO website
http://www.acpo.police.uk however states there are currently 349 members of ACPO, suggesting that there are 131 officers of ACPO rank, drawing an ACPO salary, assigned to a non force operational role. The 221 ACPO ranks within the 43 forces occupy 0.15% of the strength yet 0.6% of the expense.
The police force mergers suggested on the previous pages would enable the reduction of ACPO and SMT ranks required to fulfil the roles. It is accepted that larger force areas brings increased responsibilities and this is reflected in the calculations presented. The existing 221 ACPO ranks can, we calculate, be reduced to 115 resulting in a potential cost saving of £11million from the existing £25million for the ACPO ranks alone. This figure would increase still further following assessment of the 128 other non identified ACPO officers not assigned to particular force duties.
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SMT ranks total 3,408 within the force numbers. The force mergers proposition would enable this number to be reduced to 1,857 resulting in a potential cost saving of £80million.
ACPO & SMT staffing restructure through mergers would potentially generate £91million in savings from the existing £224million salary bill. This saving is the equivalent of putting a further 3,400 constables on the front line.
Removing Chief Superintendent and Chief Inspector roles completely would save around £12 million, even if the same personnel were retained at Superintendent and Inspector levels. (The Chief Supt to Chief Insp ranks cost £556million basic salary. By the Chief Superintendent and Chief Inspector ranks dropping to the lower rank, it would reduce the cost to £544million).
With dramatic potential savings illustrated through these examples, it is clear that there are indeed TOO MANY CHIEFS.
Remaining on the topic of Chief Officers and senior management, there are crucial reforms required if similar financial and operational errors are not to be repeated. These are covered further on the following page.
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