RUMOURS that Hampshire Police Authority could merge with Dorset and Wiltshire have coincided with an impassioned plea for more visible policing in the Alton area. The fear is that enlargement could damage community relationships with the force and remove local trust. The argument for merging some of the smaller forces is because they no longer meet the needs of 21st century policing. Already struggling with an enforced reduction in staff, Alton station Inspector Tony Tipping believes that while larger forces will be the way of the future, it should not, in his opinion, be at the expense of local policing and local accountability. This should be music to the ears of parish and district councillor Pat Seward whose gripe is exactly that - there appears, she says, to be no-one policing the village of Four Marks and law and order is rapidly going downhill. In a letter to the Chief Constable of Hampshire Paul Kernaghan, Mrs Seward said that there is less police cover in the village now than there was when she first moved in 20 years ago. "Meanwhile the village continues to grow and we have a lot of problems with antisocial behaviour and vandalism," said the councillor. "We are supposed to have a police constable and a community support officer. Neither has been seen in the village for weeks," she added. Mrs Seward further complains that it is pointless ringing the central number because calls are "either ignored or do not get through". Mrs Seward's frustration over the policing situation has been exacerbated recently by escalating vandalism and by the fact that she is trying to resurrect a Neighbourhood Watch scheme in the village and was hoping for police support, but to no avail. Having lost the rural beat officer responsible for the Four Marks area at Christmas - an officer who, according to Mrs Seward, could often be seen patrolling the area and acted as an effective deterrent to would-be miscreants - the replacement officer has been conspicuous by his absence. "I appreciate the cities need high police cover and we are rural, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't have any cover. We still have our problems," insists Mrs Seward. Her message to the Chief Constable is: "Why should I pay over £164 to you for a service that is non-existent. Why should any resident pay for such a poor service?" Insp. Tipping appreciates Mrs Seward's concerns, pointing out that because when people retire they are not being replaced, rural beat patches are getting larger and more difficult to police. Aware that Four Marks is a growing community, Insp. Tipping said that he had engaged a Community Support Officer for Four Marks and often patrolled the area with the mobile police station, but the CSO had just left and the search was on for a replacement. In the meantime, he would pull out the stops to bolster the visible policing presence in the village. A firm believer in traditional community policing, Insp. Tipping stressed that the government's proposed police authority merger was still in its embryonic stage. But, he admitted, there were some forces who were not large enough to deal with the demands of modern policing - terrorism being the obvious example, and they would benefit from being part of a larger force. While police provision would still require a pyramid structure it would not matter to him where his authority chief was situated as long as there was a good structure for the procurement of resources. "It is important that the structure works and that it is effective," said Inspector Tipping, who stressed that it was important also for the public to have good lines of communication with the police who should remain "locally based and locally accountable." Commenting on the merger issue, local MP James Arbuthnot said he had no objection in principle to reorganising some police forces. However that was not the immediate problem that needed to be dealt with. "That problem is that there are not enough police officers, and those police officers we have are wasting too much time on red tape and following central targets. The Home Secretary needs to get his priorities right." The Lib Dem Home Affairs spokesman, Winchester and Alresford MP Mark Oaten, said the creation of a much larger force would be bad news for local policing. "Hampshire Constabulary have a superb record and I am a great believer in the saying 'if it ain't broke don't fix it'. "Local people like to know their police know and care about their community. Moving to a much larger force could damage that relationship. "While I accept today's complex crime can put pressure on local forces in terms of skills and resources needed to solve them, I think this could be overcome by greater use of a national resource that local forces could call on for help rather than merging them with other forces."
