The West's new Police and Crime Commissioners have set themselves on a collision course with rank and file officers for the first time after plans to increase sponsorship deals between local businesses and the police force were slammed as "demeaning" by the Police Federation.
All the South West's new PCCs, led by Dorset commissioner Martyn Underhill, have agreed to look into the possibility of a West-wide regional sponsorship deal which could bring in millions to police forces hampered by swingeing budget cuts.
Police forces are allowed to raise one per cent of their income from private sponsorship deals, but until now this has been done on a small, local scale with the public seeing little more than vehicles run by PCSOs – often part-funded by local councils, anyway – adorned with the name of a local business.
Mr Underhill said he was in discussions with a big business that wanted to sponsor all five of the West's police forces, who are facing budget cuts of 20 per cent in total in the next three years. Such a deal, if the PCCs from Gloucestershire to Cornwall extract the maximum possible, could see the likes of Dorset getting £1 million while Avon & Somerset could get between £2 million and £3 million.
"I can see huge potential benefit to forming appropriate sponsorship relationships with reputable organisations," said Mr Underhill, who said he had put it on the agenda for the next meeting of the region's PCCs at the end of May. "They will give Dorset Police greater funding to maintain a high quality service. They will also ensure that we have the funds to help us to combat crime and provide reassurance to communities. I need to be clear that we are looking for longer term business support, rather than one-off sponsorships. This will help us to plan and sustain projects that might otherwise not have been possible due to the ongoing financial constraints.
"I also need to stress, that neither myself as Police and Crime Commissioner for Dorset, nor the Force, will ever allow operational functions to become dependent on, or to be influenced by, sponsorship agreements. It will never compromise the Chief Constable's authority or my commissioning powers. Sponsorship is there to provide an opportunity for Dorset Police and myself to work in partnership with communities towards a common goal," he added.
But the Police Federation for Avon & Somerset were not convinced, and warned such a major sponsorship deal could compromise policing integrity. "Once you start entering into sponsorships deals you start losing the independence of the police," said Kevin Phillips, chairman of the Avon and Somerset Police Federation.
"Whilst I appreciate everybody is losing money and having to cut back, I still think it would be absolutely wrong if we start entering into sponsorship with private companies for the police service – this is privatisation through the back door," he added.
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