A petition from 2,500 local Wyre Forest residents was delivered to Parliament yesterday by local activists Stephen Clee and Mark Garnier. The petition called for Home Secretary Charles Clarke MP to cancel his hugely unpopular proposed merger of West Mercia Police into a local West Midlands super-force.
Under the proposals, West Mercia Police - one of the best police forces in the country - is to be amalgamated under the 'regionalisation' scheme that will see the 47 current police forces reduced to just 12.
In the case of West Mercia, gone will be the excellent local police force serving Wyre Forest and surrounding areas only to be replaced by one force covering the whole west midlands region. This will be formed with the amalgamation of West Mercia, Warwickshire, South Staffordshire and the current West Midlands forces.
The petition was delivered to Shadow Home Secretary David Davis MP and to his colleague Nick Herbert MP, Shadow Home Affairs Minister with responsibility for policing. David Davis will then be forwarding on the petition to Home Secretary Charles Clarke.
The delivery of the petition coincided with a reply from the Home Office to a request by Mark Garnier, who had written on the 20th February, asking Charles Clarke to hold a referendum amongst local residents so that they may have their say once and for all. The letter (dated the 18th April) from Hazel Blears MP, Minister with responsibility for policing, stated quite categorically that referenda are reserved principally for constitutional changes only (as with the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000) and she "would not put the amalgamation of police forces into that category". She went on to say "in this country, we operate a parliamentary system of Government" implying that Parliament would have its say. But, Hazel Blears went on to say that Parliament would be denied its say as the 1996 Police Act states "police areas may be amalgamated in either a response to a request by to the Home Secretary by the relevant police authorities or on the initiative of the Home Secretary". The 1996 Police Act will be used by the Home Secretary to deny local members of Parliament their opportunity to vote on behalf of their constituents on this massively unpopular alteration to local policing.
Speaking after delivering the petition, Cllr Stephen Clee, leader of Wyre Forest District Council, said: "Wyre Forest's residents are rightly worried that a merger of police forces will see Wyre Forest's police resources deployed to higher crime areas, leaving local residents unprotected. It is right that we do everything we can to try to stop this unpopular and undemocratic change."
Mark Garnier added: "Crime and antisocial behaviour is a big topic on the doorstep - it affects everybody. How on earth does Charles Clarke think that merging police forces is going to address the problem of vandalism in our local towns? This Government is delivering a very odd message: in the last few years we have seen decriminalisation of cannabis, binge drinking opened up to 24 hours a day, and super casinos to feed one of societies most economically damaging addictions. But woe betide anyone even thinking of lighting up a cigarette in a public place. People want more local policing; not less. And people want to be listened to by their politicians; not ignored."