Keith, the dearth of Police in South Wiltshire, a consequence of cuts in funding, is becoming a concern to all.
A few examples:
Yesterday, New Year's Eve, there were just 2 traffic cars available for Salisbury and South Wilts plus, I understand less than a handful of CPSOs in "Panda" Cars. There are no longer any custody cells in Salisbury, the nearest are in Swindon and Melksham, both more than an hour away.
So if an idiot is caught drink driving, or any other crime for which an arrest is needed that car will be effectively "off duty" for the next 3 hours. There is no public transport between Salisbury and the two towns, so on release the a taxi has to be used to return people, at the Police's expense.
There are cells in Southampton, about 20 min away, but they are in a different Police Force area and "not available".
The Police Station in Salisbury is not open 24/7 and outside 9am to 6pm Monday to Saturday is only partly staffed. This has led to the Police informing the shop owners of Salisbury that if they catch a shop lifter the Police cannot be relied on to support the store.
All the CCTV has been turned off and petty crime and vandalism is on the increase. Other than on the M4 and A34 there are no speed cameras working and there are no longer any mobile speed camera vans.
The new County Court in Salisbury was built about 4 years ago without a cell block, because Salisbury Police Station was about 500m away. With the closure of the Police Station last year any accused on remand has to be brought by van from Melksham or Swindon: traffic delays and lack of transport often mean the hearing is delayed.
There is no space on the site of the Court building to build cells, even if there was money to build them. So accused have been held in a prison van in the carpark for up to 6 hours, without food, water or toilets. It is reported that there are at least 2 "human rights" claims pending as a result. .
The explanation for all the cuts is that because Wiltshire is classified as a rural county the central government formula for funding the Police means there is no more money. As far as I'm concerned all the noise from Central Government about improving Policing and making the Police more visible is no more than hot air.
Wiltshire Police seem to be fresh out of ideas: one report was that to save money they considered recruiting 1000 Specials to take over most of the traditional Policing and sack all the PCSOs, because Specials are fully Warranted Officers that are effectively on Zero Hours Contracts. I hope it is not true.
I've written to my MP to tell him that Wiltshire Police isn't, in the South Wilts/Salisbury area, fit for purpose and suggested Hampshire or Dorset Police are invited to take over South Wiltshire Policing.
