South west forces agree regional forensic collaboration
Exeter will be the base for one of three regional centres for police forensic services after the five south west police forces agreed to a new streamlined state-of-the-art service.
Currently each force has both fingerprint and chemical laboratories but under the new agreement this will reduce to three with fingerprint services being delivered in Exeter and Portishead and the chemical service in Gloucestershire and Exeter.
The sites chosen ensure there is no further investment needed. By using existing estate, capacity and current accreditation levels the five forces expect to save around £1.9 million.
The collaboration was given the green light at a south west regional meeting of police and crime commissioners and chief constables, hosted at the Portishead police headquarters of Avon and Somerset yesterday, Wednesday 27 November 2013.
Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Commissioner Tony Hogg said: “The decision follows several months of negotiation between the forces as part of their efforts to reduce budgets and increase efficiency for the future. It will mean forces sharing systems and services and adopting a similar process to inter force systems already in place in other parts of the UK.
“The fact that Devon and Cornwall is the only Force chosen to host two of the laboratories is testimony to the expertise and quality of those providing the forensics service for the peninsula.”
Chief Constable of Devon and Cornwall Shaun Sawyer said: “The decision to collaborate follows several months of negotiation between the forces in an effort to reduce budgets and increase efficiency for the future. It will mean forces sharing systems and services and adopting a similar process to inter force systems already in place in other parts of the UK.”
The current total cost of the Phase 1 forensic services across the five forces is £10.8m, with the initial potential savings identified from the proposals standing at £1.9m.
However by 2018-19 it is forecast that savings from the collaborative project could be as high as £6.6m.
As part of the plans, the new service will be headed up by a Head of Forensic Services for the South West region.
The new arrangements will complement existing regional initiatives such as Zephyr (the dedicated team set up to combat serious organised crime); Special Branch; and regional procurement.
This collaboration programme will now continue to look at Phase 2, Digital Forensics, and Phase 3, Crime Scene Investigation, during 2014.
