To outsource or not to outsource?


One of the questions facing the UK’s new Police & Crime Commissioners


W


hen the newly elected Police & Crime Commissioners take up their posts, they


will do so in a continuing climate of austerity and cutbacks, with central Government funding to the police reduced by 20% until March 2015 and budgets under tight scrutiny. Recent reports such as that produced by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) on increasing efficiency in the police force, suggest that collaborative projects and shared support functions are likely to reap the greatest savings, whilst also minimising reductions to the front line.


However, outsourcing even low-level policing duties to private companies is seen by many as a political hot potato, even though it offers a means not only of cutting costs but also freeing warranted officers to concentrate on the real business of police work.


Fraser Halliday, Specialist Services Director at specialist security company Securitas, explains how, even though there is a misconception in some quarters that private organisations such as his are looking to take jobs away from the police, this is not the case – and many forces are recognising the gains to be made from outsourcing.


He says, “It has never been the intention of the security industry to tread on police toes, but simply to take on some of the less skilled elements of their work which a warranted officer is over-qualified for.”


One example of how outsourcing a low-level police function is working can be seen in Avon & Somerset and Devon & Cornwall Constabularies, where Securitas provides Crime Scene Guarding (CSG) at around 75%


4 less than it would cost the police to action.


The security company’s guards receive more comprehensive training in CSG than police officers are given, because while it is such a small part of the police remit, it is the main focus of the work that Securitas people are tasked with.


In outsourcing CSG, the West Country police forces achieve better value for money as well as being able to relieve their highly trained officers to focus on the more demanding elements of the job, such as keeping the general public safe and locking up villains.


Anecdotal comments from individual officers suggest that CSG is considered to be one of their more mundane tasks, and one that they would not miss if it was to be outsourced.


Conversely, security guards who have been trained specifically to guard crime scenes are proud to carry out this work and relish the role of forensic protection.


Another area in which outsourcing has proved successful is at Arsenal Football Club, where Securitas now controls the traffic away from the stadium on home match days, when around 63,000 fans flood in to the area.


This role was previously carried out by police officers, many of whom had rest days and holidays cancelled in order to fulfil it.


However, following a number of trials which proved Securitas guards were able to take on this traffic role, with the added benefit of achieving cost savings of more than 75%, the work has been outsourced to them for a number of years.


Bizarrely, the Government’s spending review has resulted in some police forces putting a stop to outsourcing even though private contractors, whose staff are paid considerably less than warranted officers, can save them money.


The view held by some that outsourcing is more expensive than running things ‘in house’ is simply not so when private security companies are able to pay their staff a lower rate than a warranted police officer. And, of course, that’s how it should be when these officers have had so much more training for a job that encompasses greater knowledge and experience than is required for crime scene guarding.


So, what is the way forward for the UK police force? Will our new Police & Crime Commissioners use the powers they have been given to opt for outsourcing in order to make substantial cost savings over the coming years, or will they look elsewhere to cut their budgets? Only time will tell.


John Naughton Service Development Manager Securitas


www.securitas.com


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