Firemen to take police roles as new set-up ‘blurs lines’
FIREMEN are to be used in traditional police roles such as the search for missing people, as police and crime commissioners take over fire brigades.
The services will be expected to work closer together in a move likely to see them sharing premises, call centres and, in some cases, community roles.
It comes as councils, which in many areas control the fire service, are accused of siphoning off cash to “prop up” other services, including burgeoning adult social care bills. Roger Hirst will become the first Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) to take over governance of the local fire service in Essex from October, with other forces across the country expected to follow.
Around a quarter of the 37 PCCS in England are either in the process of, or are considering, applying for the role of Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, after the Government legislated to make the move possible early last year.
“We are not asking police constables to put out fires and we are not asking fire fighters to make arrests, but there is plenty that they can do together,” Mr Hirst said, pointing out that one area which could be improved with collaboration is procurement. David Lloyd, PCC for Hertfordshire and chairman of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, told The Daily Telegraph that the search for missing people was one area where firefighters’ skills could be used.
He said: “The kit that the fire service has is probably more helpful than the kit anyone else has. They have drones, they have cameras which look at heat to find bodies, they have got the ability to look in open water, they have got the ability to do a lot of that which really is very, very helpful around searching. If someone has not been seen for a few days and there is a concern for safety, it is probably a lot better that a firefighter gets into a building, using a ladder or whatever, than a police officer breaking down the door.”
Firefighters have collaborated on the search for missing people in the past, Mr Hirst said, adding that there was a readiness in his area to “do more joint response work”, but the move was seen as controversial by the unions and the authorities “needed to involve them and make sure we get it right”.
Mr Lloyd has consulted over plans to take over the role of Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, which is opposed by the local county council. The proposal will now go to an adjudicator before a final decision is made by the Home Secretary. If successful, Mr Lloyd will assume oversight next year and says that when someone dials 999 they should reach a shared call centre.
Firefighters could also assist police at road traffic accidents and in giving security advice at fire safety visits and in community outreach, such as courses to steer young people away from criminality as firefighters are “far better at getting into communities”, Mr Lloyd pointed out. He also called for independent oversight, as he warned that under the current system “fire service money is being used to quietly prop up other council-run services”, such as social care, because it is not ring-fenced.
But the plans have been criticised by the Fire Brigades Union, with Dave Green, a national officer, describing it as a “hostile takeover”. He said firefighters have gained a public trust “built up over decades” as they work in a humanitarian rather than a law enforcement role and they did not want to lose this by blurring the distinction between the two services.