The Police National Structures Review Unit of the Home Office, which
just happens to be chaired by Staffordshire’s Chief Constable John
Giffard, has concluded that Staffordshire Police must merge either into
a regional west midlands force or with the West Mercia Force. Michael
Fabricant has now written to Home Office Minister Hazel Blears to say
that he is "bitterly opposed to any regional merger. If Staffordshire
Police believe, however, that a merger with another force would lead to
better policing on our streets, I would not oppose a merger with the
West Mercia Constabulary which has similar policing requirements to our
own."

Michael adds: "I oppose any merger into the West Midlands force which
is huge by comparison and is centred on policing in Birmingham and the
Black Country. This calls for a very different type of policing than
that which we need in predominantly rural counties like Staffordshire.
Our local police would just be ‘swallowed up’ by the West Midlands force
and make the service more remote.

"I am also very concerned with plans to merge the excellent
Staffordshire Ambulance Service in with that of the West Midlands
Ambulance Service which has slower response times in emergencies. The
Government’s obsession with ‘regionalisation’ will do nothing to improve
services in Staffordshire".

In a letter to Michael Fabricant, Hazel Blears says "I believe that the
changes being proposed will be of considerable benefit to policing in
this country. In particular, they will help us meet the need to improve
protective services whilst maintaining the quality of service provided
to individual neighbourhoods and prevent these local resources from
being disrupted by other demands on the police. Tackling crime and
antisocial behaviour remain our priority and these reforms will
strengthen local policing by ensuring greater resilience and capability
at local and regional level, without abstracting officers from their
neighbourhood duties."