A regional daily has launched a major campaign against proposals to move its police control centre to a neighbouring county.
The East Anglian Daily Times has carried a front-page plea to abandon proposals to combine police control centres for Norfolk and Suffolk at Norfolk Police’s Wymondham HQ and save an estimated £1.844 million a year.
The Archant Suffolk title is calling for its police control room to remain in the county which has a population of around 720,000.
Editor Terry Hunt described it as a “money-saving” move which would put lives at risk and leave the county without a single emergency service control room.
The East Anglian Daily Times has launched a major campaign against proposals to move the Suffolk police control centre to neighbouring Norfolk
“Other police forces across the country have looked at this idea and not gone ahead,” he wrote.
“In emergency situations, local knowledge and split-second decisions can make the difference between life and death. That’s why our police control room must stay in Suffolk. Lives are more important than money.”
Dozens of serving and former Suffolk police officers and staff have spoken out publicly against the plans and are among more than 2,000 people who have signed a Unison-hosted petition against the relocation.
“We are calling on our police chiefs to say no to this short-sighted proposal and seek to find the necessary financial savings in other areas, away from frontline policing,” wrote Terry.
The Unison petition’s webpage has received a torrent of impassioned pleas to keep the police control room in Suffolk.
Tim Passmore, police and crime commissioner for Suffolk, has said that he is sceptical about the proposed merger and that he will only agree to it if he believes it is in the best interests of local people.
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What is out-source for the goose is obviously not out-source for the gander.
Was it only three years ago that Archant outsourced its printing? According to a BBC report 36 jobs were lost when the Thorpe plant closed.
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Is this the same Terry Hunt who has previously waved goodbye to all but one of his subs when they were ‘regionalised’ to Norwich in a money saving exercise? I think we should be told…
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It is total and complete nonsense to claim that combining the control rooms will put lives at risk. It will not. The police will still be dispatched from local police stations
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As a local, I can’t agree with “Bob” and fully support the Archant campaign. However, “Sutler” and “Tractor Boy” are spot on.
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Nasty whiff of double standards by this paper over centralisation decisions.. Quite shameful. Papers often ignore damn fine stories involving their own companies!
Job losses, disputes and strange things are ignored….
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