Policing alliance and how it’s governed

Warwickshire Police currently works in an alliance with West Mercia Police, with services delivered jointly across each policing area. While each force retains its own chief officer group and budgetary and operational control of local policing, a number of other services are delivered jointly. The alliance is not a merger, however. Each force retains its own identity and separate financial accounts are also maintained.

The agreement to form the alliance was made in June 2011 by the two force Chief Constables and their respective Police Authorities. The decision to work in an alliance had been supported by the successive Police and Crime Commissioners in Warwickshire and West Mercia and was also given national acclaim.

One of the prime catalysts for the alliance was the necessity for the two forces to reduce their costs by £35 million as part of the government’s comprehensive spending review. However, it was also recognised that the benefits for both forces were far broader than financial, including delivery of greater operational and organisational resilience, protecting frontline policing resources and ensuring our processes were lean and more effective to deliver the best possible services.

In October 2018, the Chief Constable and PCC of West Mercia announced that they were terminating the alliance agreement with effect from October 9, 2019. Since the announcement was made by West Mercia, detailed planning has been undertaken to determine Warwickshire’s future beyond the alliance.

While the decision to end the alliance was not one that Warwickshire agreed with, the termination brings the opportunity to rebuild Warwickshire Police from the bottom upwards and build new partnerships with other forces and organisations.

A number of the formerly joint services were re-established on a stand-alone basis in October 2019 but, following a direction from the Home Secretary, the remaining alliance arrangements will continue between the two forces until April 2020. The focus of the Warwickshire PCC and Warwickshire Police in the meantime remains on securing an orderly transition to the future arrangements.

There are a number of documents available on this site for the public to read which set out the agreement between Warwickshire and West Mercia police forces and how the two work together under the alliance agreement.

• Read the Warwickshire Police and West Mercia Police and Police Authority Collaboration Agreement
• Read the Police Force / PCC Strategic Alliance Collaboration Agreement
• Read the Police Foundation independent review report on the alliance
• Read the Warwickshire Police Strategic Assessment