Changes To Police Control Rooms

27 January 2015, 06:00

999 calls in Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire could be handled by just one control centre.

The counties' three Police and Crime Commissioners and three Chief Constables say there is sufficient evidence to develop a Full Business Case for the merger.

If it gets the go ahead 999 calls, non-emergency contact and crime recording will take place in one centre instead of three, saving at least £5 million a year.

Herts Police and Crime Commissioner David Lloyd said: "This is an important step and represents the next major phase of an historic collaboration between the three forces. Crucially, this agreement will pave the way for Hertfordshire Constabulary to work more efficiently to meet our tough spending targets while at the same time minimise the impact on local policing in the county. It will help the forces to meet the £68m funding gap over the next four years.

"I am therefore delighted that the Strategic Alliance has been able to come together and agree to progress the proposal to move to one or two control room(s) serving the three counties. 

"The three forces have an established track record of successful collaboration and I am confident that this success can be built on with this agreement."

Herts Chief Constable Andy Bliss added: "The operational and financial advantages of joining specialist units together have already been proven. By collaborating the control rooms we will have greater resilience to deal with emergency and non-emergency calls plus manage demand on policing services.

"This is a vital part of our plans to ensure that when the public need our help they can contact us easily and in ways that suit them. Ultimately this will help us to fight crime and keep people safer."