Former Staffordshire Chief Constable John Giffard joins Policing TV to look back at the last big push for force mergers under then–Home Secretary Charles Clarke – and what today’s Police Reform White Paper could learn from it.
He explains how Denis O’Connor’s “Closing the Gap” work on Level 2 criminality triggered proposals for larger “strategic forces”, why high-performing but smaller forces like Staffordshire were still told they were “too small”, and how costs, politics and council tax precepts ultimately sank the 2005–06 merger plans.
Key Takeaways
- The 2005–06 merger push was driven by concerns about forces’ ability to tackle Level 2 criminality across boundaries.
- Denis O’Connor’s work suggested forces needed around 4,000 officers plus 2,000 staff to meet serious and organised crime threats.
- High-performing but smaller forces like Staffordshire challenged the assumption that size automatically equals capability.
- A proposed four-force West Midlands “ring” merger (West Mids, West Mercia, Staffordshire, Warwickshire) was costed at ~£57m in year one and year two before savings.
- Local forces and police authorities feared being “sucked into” big conurbations, losing neighbourhood focus and identity.
- Council tax precepts – very different policing charges in neighbouring areas – proved a major barrier to creating merged forces.
- Many forces have since strengthened their Level 2 response, but serious and organised crime pressures have not gone away.
- The core lessons for today’s White Paper: be honest about cost, politics, local consent and precepts, or mergers will stall again.
Chapters
00:00 – Setting the Scene
01:20 – Inside the Home Office Era
03:00 – ‘Closing the Gap’ and Force Size
04:30 – The Real Cost of a Four-Force Merger
06:10 – Performance vs Scale: The Staffordshire Question
08:00 – Precepts: The Money Problem Nobody Solved
10:10 – Echoes for Today’s White Paper
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