Police adopt countywide structure for Northamptonshire

Northamptonshire Police will replace existing area-based structures with two new countywide commands from Monday.

New commands are aimed at streamlining operations and saving up to £25m.

A new Territorial Command will include safer community teams, emergency response units, roads policing and the force communications centre.

The Crime and Justice Command will take in CID, major investigation units, public protection, intelligence and criminal justice.

Changes will be made in the way policing is carried out in Northamptonshire to give the public an improved service, Chief Constable Adrian Lee said.

"The new structure should improve the quality of service at a time of increased financial pressure.

"It is still unclear exactly how much money we will have to save in the next four years, however, it is likely to be in the region of £25m.

No change in numbers

"To be able to meet these targets we have to look at what we do and become as efficient as possible," he said.

"Removing the area boundaries will allow the nearest officer to respond to an incident and not have to take previous geographical barriers into consideration, thereby improving the service we provide."

The 41 safer community teams will be cut to 17 larger units responsible for policing across the county.

These 17 teams will be linked to wards to make it easier for local people to find out which officers are responsible for where they live.

"There will be the same number of police officers and community support officers out on the beat on Monday as there has been in the past," Mr Lee said.

"In the vast majority of cases the same inspectors, sergeants, police officers and PCSOs will be responsible for the same beats they have previously been responsible for."