Police forensics transfer is scrapped

DEVON and Cornwall Police have halted a plan to transfer forensic staff to Dorset.

The force says the move announced in October last year will now not go ahead following discussions.

The decision was welcomed in Plymouth, where councillors had raised concerns about cutbacks in the service.

Councillors complained that a new agreement meant that some “low-level” crimes no longer qualified for a forensics investigation.

Labour city councillor Gareth Derrick, who represents

Plymouth on the regional police and crime panel, said keeping local control of forensics would protect jobs.

It would also allow the service to respond to local priorities which might attract extra funding in the future.

Cllr Derrick said: “We won’t have that opportunity if we have given away the forensics service to another police force.

“The safe position is to ensure we control our policing services in Devon and Cornwall.”

Forensic investigators use scientific techniques to gather evidence from crime scenes such as fingerprints and DNA.

A council meeting heard that people reporting break-ins and criminal damage were being told the incidents did not qualify for a team to be sent out.

Councillors said Plymouth people would suffer more as a result because those types of crimes were more common in urban areas. The Labour-run city council sent a protest letter to Tory police commissioner Alison Hernandez against the jobs transfer and service reduction.

The Devon and Cornwall force said in a statement: “Following a period of discussion between all parties, including trades unions, Chief Constable Shaun Sawyer and Police & Crime Commissioner Alison Hernandez have taken a decision that Devon & Cornwall employees working within South West Forensics will not be transferred to Dorset Police. Devon and Cornwall Police remain committed to the modernisation of SW Forensics and will maintain its commitments to the existing agreement.”

A proposed merger between the Dorset and Devon and Cornwall forces was called off last year after it was opposed by Ms Hernandez.

Four police forces in the South West joined a regional forensics organisation in 2014 to improve efficiency and make savings. In October Devon & Cornwall and Avon & Somerset announced they were planning to transfer the employment of their forensic teams to Dorset by October 2019.