Select Committee on Office of the Deputy Prime Minister: Housing, Planning, Local Government and the Regions Written Evidence


Memorandum by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) (FRS 54)

ACPO

  1.  The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) was set up over 50 years ago so that work in developing policing policies could be undertaken in one place, on behalf of the Service as a whole, rather than in 44 forces separately.

  2.  ACPO's members are police officers who hold the rank of Chief Constable, Deputy Chief Constable or Assistant Chief Constable, or their equivalents, in the forty-four forces of England, Wales and Northern Ireland, national police agencies and certain other forces in the UK, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands, and certain senior non-police staff. There are presently 280 members of ACPO.

INTRODUCTION

  3.  The Police Service has a long history of working closely with the Fire and Rescue Service in responding to a wide range of emergencies and disasters. In addition the Police Service has performed a key role in supporting contingency arrangements that have been implemented during industrial disputes within the Fire and Rescue Service. Recent legislation, including the Control of Major Accident Hazards (COMAH) Regulations 1999 and the Civil Contingencies Act 2004, has reinforced the importance of a close working relationship between the two services; both at strategic and operational level.

ACPO RESPONSE

  4.  In response to the specific terms of reference agreed by this Inquiry; ACPO only makes comment on areas we consider have a direct impact on policing and are within our knowledge and experience.

Item 1 The implications for citizens for and the Fire and Rescue Service of

    (a)  The introduction of Regional Control Centres.

  5.  This may have an impact on the effectiveness of the response by the police and others in the event of an industrial dispute within the Fire and Rescue Service (in recent disputes some police forces provided temporary joint control rooms). These issues can be resolved however by effective contingency planning arrangements, which recognise that any temporary arrangements must be capable of reflecting regional control structures.

  6.  It is also important to emphasise that, wherever possible, "local knowledge" must be maintained within any migration to regional call centre systems. Failure to do so is likely to impact on the effectiveness of the Fire and Rescue Service to provide an informed and "intelligence led" response to emergencies. In addition to the retention of personnel with the requisite knowledge, the use of technological solutions such as sophisticated mapping software should be fully exploited.

    (b)  The introduction of and implementation process for Firelink radio services.

  7.  ACPO continues to work closely with CFOA and other emergency responders in developing interoperable communication systems. The role of 02 Airwave is crucial to delivering success in this area, through their provision of secure digital communications to both the Police and Fire and Rescue Service. An effective, integrated system is essential to ensure a professional and `joined up' response to any emergency.

Item 3.  Joint working between the Fire and Rescue Service and other emergency services

  8.  Legislation and actual events have forged an even closer working relationship between the police and fire service in recent years than ever before. Both COMAH and the Civil Contingencies Act provide a statutory framework for joint working at both strategic and operational level. In particular, the work of the Regional and Local Resilience Forums ensures close co-operation between the police and fire service (amongst others) in planning for a wide range of emergencies.

  9.  Other examples of joint working between the Police and Fire and Rescue Service include:

    —    Home Office Model Response Plan for CBRN incidents.

    —    The National CBRN Training Centre at Winterbourne Gunner, which is jointly staffed by representatives from the "blue light" services.

    —    CFOA representation on the ACPO Emergency Procedures Portfolio (strategic forum within ACPO to develop policy and guidance for the Police Service in relation to the response to emergencies and major disasters).

  10.  The above examples illustrate that the two services continue to work closely together, at the strategic and operational level, with a shared commitment to enhance community safety in their day to day work and to deliver professional services of the highest quality at times of crisis. This joint working is particularly evidenced in the area of civil contingency planning, where both services seek to ensure an inclusive, consultative approach to developing national guidance, local policy and operational resilience, through joint training and exercising.

DCC Alan Goodwin,

ACPO Emergency Procedures Committee.





 
previous page contents next page

House of Commons home page Parliament home page House of Lords home page search page enquiries index

© Parliamentary copyright 2006
Prepared 23 March 2006