Police revamp plan (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Police revamp plan

8:13am Monday 30th October 2006 in News By Joanne Moore

A major shake-up of policing is planned in Wiltshire, which will include the merging of the divisons which cover Devizes, Marlborough and Chippenham.

The plan proposes merging Salisbury A division, which includes Kennet, with C diviosn which is based at Semington and includes Melksham and Chippenham.

A chief inspector will be in charge of the police station in Wilton Road, Salisbury instead of a chief superintendent.

A new county-wide rapid response team is to be set up to deal with major incidents including counter-terrorism, serious accidents and emergencies.

There are plans to bolster rural community policing teams to cover villages, re-deploying police officers and making greater use of police community support officers in rural areas.

The details were revealed by Salisbury MP Robert Key after a meeting of Wiltshire Police Authority on Friday.

Mr Key said the police force in south Wiltshire is facing "some huge changes" but they were necessary to "save the Wiltshire police" for the future.

The proposals are seen as a compromise to the Government's plans, which could have seen the county force abolished.

Mr Key said: "There will be changes for civilian support staff at Melksham and Salisbury, but this does not mean job losses - rather a redistribution of support staff. I suggest people don't panic but wait for the full details of what's proposed."

Police authority chairman Bertie Woolnough said: "We have to make significant improvements and we have to have greater capabilities from the same resources."

Chief Superintendent Jerry Wickham, who has been working on the proposals since May, said the merger will take place next April.

He said: We're not closing any stations. We're looking to expand contact points between police and public in many rural areas."