On the face of it, it is quite an endorsement of the devolution process in Wales that an ex-high ranking officer should argue in favour of placing policing powers in the hands of the Welsh Assembly. The proposals by former acting chief constable of North Wales Police, Clive Wolfendale to have the four Welsh forces merged and managed from Cardiff Bay will doubtlessly be welcomed by politicos eager to find additional responsibilities for a newly empowered Welsh government.
However, it should be noted that the underlying motive for this suggestion seems to have little to do with the creation of a distinct Welsh police force to serve as a single crime-fighting organisation. Nor is it about achieving operational efficiency through economies of scale. When you read between the lines, the message is that the Senedd is seen as a potentially softer touch than the Home Office in the wake of an independent pay review which could result in 40 percent of officers being £4,000-a-year worse off.
3 Comments:
No different from the games played by Plaid over teaching pay & conditions .
whatever the alleged motives behind such moves - and you may be right in what you say jaxx - what cannot be doubted is that such developments will be a inevitable consequence of the yes vote on march 3rd.
It would appear that there are some who have still not grasped the huge significance of the vote on march 3rd for the way that wales is governed and in terms of our nation's future relationship with the rest of the uk!
Leigh Richards
Speaking as someone who has "still not grasped the huge significance of the vote on march 3rd" i would be graful if you could explain it to me, Leigh. According to John Ball, it was no more that a constitutional course correction, and yet others would have me believe that devolution had been validated. I'm sure that people would love it have it both ways.
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