Policing we need to scrap the commissioners and have the funding in place for decent policing

Another in my daily posts featuring my answer recently in the Cornishman

“Is it right that the number of police officers in Cornwall is continuing to fall, 

what would you do to stem this loss and should the role of Police and Crime Commissioner continue."

It is not right that police numbers continue to fall. Both coalition partners promised to increase police numbers, yet did the opposite in power, no one voted for this. There is increased demand on our police force, not only from crime but as we saw recently mental health patients being put in cells due to lack of resources in the NHS. 

This is one of the ways the police are being squeezed from both sides by the coalition's short sighted spending cuts.

My party Mebyon Kernow did not support the creation of police and crime commissioners.  It was the first election I chose not to vote in, because I felt so strongly it was not neccesary. The post is excessively expensive and worse still there is no evidence it has made policing better, it should be scrapped immediately.

We need an accountable police force and having a centralised Devon and Cornwall force is not in our interest. Let alone the further mergers being schemed about. There needs to be better connections with the public not inefficient phone numbers and front desks closing. We need a properly funded Cornish police force and a refocus on front line policing.

senior Cornish Tory echoes MK policy to lobby for a Cornish police force

the Canadian Cornwall has it's own police force why not the Cornish Cornwall?

Very pleased to see that the Conservative cabinet member and councillor for Bodmin, Lance Kennedy echoing my call to devolve policing to Cornwall. It's always been the policy of Mebyon Kernow that all governmental institutions and bodies be devolved to Cornwall including the police force. The idea is certainly not that radical, at the moment Devon and Cornwall police force is the biggest in England and the smallest constabularies are smaller than Cornwall.

It is also very encouraging to see a councillor taking up the baton of fighting for a Cornish police force. On the 6th of September 2011 a majority of Cornwall councillors voted that:

1. The Council urgently meets with the Chief Constable and Chair of Devon and Cornwall Police Authority to assert:
   
   (i) equal partnership between Devon and Cornwall
   (ii) fair division of resource
   (iii) policing style relevant and effective for Cornwall
   (iv) equal representation in governance of police
2. The Council Send a strong cross party delegation to Home Secretary to assert stronger Cornish representation in governance, opposition to Devonwall, assessment of case for a Cornish Commissioner and police force, and the principle of democratic governance and accountability.

So far no one has championed this cause in an official capacity (that I know of). Certainly Lance's comments appear on the BBC Cornwall newsite (Councillor bids for Cornish police force) but don't feature on the news  section of Cornwall Council's website. It would seem safe to assume that this is not council policy that the administration at Cornwall Council have so far refused to lobby on this subject and are ignoring the will of the chamber to do so (not for the first time). I know Robertson and other senior Tories in Cornwall are keen not to upset their bosses in the party in Westminster but they should take up this cause and spend more time listening to the people of Cornwall and councillors. Doing what is best for Cornwall rather than what is the best for Tory policy in London.

Devon and Cornwall Police relocate their helicopter to Cornwall

Only joking it's nowhere near Cornwall, it's moving further away.

Last week in the news, was the story that the police force have relocated the force helicopter from thehere on the BBC Devon site. I must confess at the outset that I had no idea that D&C police even had a helicopter, until the Keep Cornwall Whole rally in Saltash last October (where it was buzzing overhead). The simple reason for this is that is based miles away from Penzance in Exeter. Even with such a new and fast machine the chances of it getting this far west in time to do anything useful are very slim.
Headquarters in Exeter to Exeter airport. The move will bring the police millions of pounds by freeing up the Middlemoor site (for development presumably) this in itself is good news, this is the sort of thing that should happen before sacking people and raiding people's pensions.

Map of the force area, note the helicopters location in Exeter

So I wondered why is the helicopter based in Exeter and funny enough this is answered on the police website:

Weather conditions are better in the Exeter area; it would be more difficult to fly from a location further west in the Force area.

The Air Operations Unit is next to the motorway, which is convenient considering that crime frequently enters and exits the Force area via the motorway.

There is a mutual aid scheme with Dorset and Avon & Somerset Constabularies; Air Operations in these forces cover one another in case of emergency. If the Force’s Air Operations Unit were based in Cornwall, for example, it would be too far west to assist these two forces.

If the helicopter base were in Plymouth, it would need to stop more frequently to re-fuel each time it flew east for a job and then back west to Plymouth. The helicopter’s endurance is limited to just two hours’ flying.

The helicopter has always been based in Exeter and it would be expensive for the Air Operations Unit to move location. Air Operations staff all live locally so it is a convenient location.

LINK

Notwithstanding a semi-tropical Exeter micro-climate I am unaware of, I doubt the validity of the argument about weather, the Cornish air ambulance is a familiar site throughout Cornwall and here in Penzance we are used to British International's frequent flights to Scilly in all but the most extreme weather. Not to mention the very frequent helicopter flights from Culdrose. All helicopters seldom affected by the weather save for storm conditions.

an EC-145 model, presumably Exeter type snow

The mutual aid scheme is interesting, no word whether the people in Dorset and Avon & Somerset pay for the service and I doubt we'd ever see one of their helicopters in Cornwall, due to distance.
As to the comment about Plymouth, I would use the same logic to argue in favour of a Cornish location or even Plymouth as a location. That is, as the base is in Exeter, it needs to return there more frequently when deployed to Cornwall and West Devon.

Here if you are interested in working it out fro yourself, is a link to a useful google maps based tool that works out distance 'as the crow flies', google maps distance calculator, from Penzance to Exeter International Airport is 89 nautical miles. Also if your interested here's the specification of the police's Eurocopter EC-145 an aircraft capable of a maximum speed of 133 knots. Without working out the maths fully and finding out the response time to get in the air, it is obvious that to reach anywhere in West Cornwall from base would take at least an hour, or if you prefer £1675 each way.

There are two points here, there seems little logic from a Cornish perspective to have the helicopter based in Exeter it's too far,  one it reduces operational effectiveness and two it increases costs. This is yet another example of the Devonwall/ centralisation process that takes jobs and services out of Cornwall. There seems to be some blinkered logic that shoving everything into Exeter is necessary and useful, this is not the case for this helicopter or anything else. As an alternative Newquay airport would be a much better solution for both Cornwall and Devon (59 nm to Exeter, 33 to Plymouth, 28 to Penzance) especially if Cornwall Council would rent facilities at cost. Ultimately though Cornwall would be much better served by our own police force, a Devon based force concentrates it's resources nearby, high time we did the same.

see also Andrew Wallis's blog on the way D&C police is funded in favour of Devon: Paying for the police