By Jason Evans
South Wales Evening Post
Welsh police chiefs have vowed to step up the fight over proposals to scrap force helicopters and replace them with a UK service.
Under plans for the National Police Air Service (NPAS) the Dyfed-Powys and the joint South Wales-Gwent helicopters would be axed, and all forces would share access to a pool of aircraft on a national basis. The proposals, which the UK Government has said it intends to force through, would also see a fixed wing aircraft serving Dyfed-Powys.
But Dyfed-Powys has said such an arrangement raised a number of serious issues for what is the fourth largest constabulary in Britain.
A spokesman for Dyfed-Powys Police Authority said: “Dyfed-Powys includes more than 350 miles of coastline, substantial mountainous terrain and many remote and rural communities.
“We recognises a fixed wing aircraft would be cheaper to operate than the helicopter and would give greater flight time.
“However, it would have a number of weaknesses, including the inability to land at a scene to arrest a person, locate a missing person or deal with a casualty.
“And it also has the inability to transport specialist officers such as firearms, dogs and negotiators.” Senior staff from the authority met MPs this week to discuss their concerns, and now Roger Williams, MP for Brecon and Radnorshire, Mark Williams, MP for Ceredigion, and the MP for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire, Simon Hart, have agreed to write to the Minister for Policing, Nick Herbert, supporting the authority’s position.
The chairman of the authority, Gwyn Hopkins, said that while the authority supported the concept of an NPAS, there were serious concerns that the current proposals would have a “detrimental impact upon the air support service that is currently provided and needed by the residents of Dyfed-Powys”.
He added that insufficient consideration had been given to the particular requirements of Dyfed-Powys.
He called on the public to take up the issue with their MPs.
South Wales Police have also raised concerns about what the national air service could mean.
In May this year a report on the NPAS was discussed behind closed doors at a meeting of the South Wales Police Authority - but the Evening Post saw the document and it raised serious questions about the level of service the new arrangements would provide.
The report said that there would be no 24-hour base for the entire South Western region - which covers the Dyfed-Powys, South Wales, Gwent, Devon and Cornwall, Dorset, Avon and Somerset and Gloucestershire forces - and that the nearest such base would be in Birmingham.
It concluded that national coverage could result in a poorer service for people in South West Wales that actually costs more than the current arrangements.
Under the NPAS, the number of police air bases is to be slashed from 32 to 23, and the number of helicopters is also to be cut to 23.
Mr Herbert has said that the NPAS would provide forces with a modern service - while saving some £15 million.
Copyright 2012 South Wales Evening Post