http://digbig.com/4mbpe
Claire Haynes and Sarah Bebbington
"CHIEF constables have criticised the Home Office for bungling the force mergers process through poor planning. The Home Office announced last week that it would not push through forced mergers after the collapse of plans for a voluntary amalgamation between Cumbria and Lancashire. The Government had been unable to solve the issue of how to harmonise the two counties' differing council tax precepts, it said. Paul West, chief constable of West Mercia Constabulary, told Police Review: 'The whole thing was almost a master class of how to not plan major implementation [of a] structural solution.' He added that the way the process was handled created unnecessary divisions between chiefs with those opposed to the plan seen as 'difficult'." [Sub Required]
