Cumbria’s police chief said the county force will change the way it works ahead of local government reorganisation.
Chief Constable Michelle Skeer told Cumbria County Council that the force would be split into a Cumberland unit and a Westmorland and Furness unit – reflecting the two new unitary authorities due to come into being next April.
It is not obliged to do this, but Ch Cons Skeer said doing so would assist with partnership working. She said it was anticipated the restructure would go live later this year ready for the changes in local government.
In April 2023, the county council and all district and borough councils in Cumbria will cease to exist. Two new unitary authorities – called Cumberland and Westmorland and Furness – will take over.
The chief constable was giving a report to the county council and told members the last two years had been challenging as police had been forced to adapt to new legislation quickly due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Police had, she told councillors, visited more than 20,000 businesses to provide support and recorded just under 10,000 COVID-related incidents.
The force had also benefited from Operation Uplift, a government-funded drive announced in 2019, to swell the ranks of police forces in England and Wales by 20,000 over three years.
Ch Cons Skeer said that, as of June 13, police officer numbers in the county stood at 1,299. She said this was the highest number Cumbria Constabulary had ever had.
She told the meeting Operation Uplift had enabled the constabulary to place officers back out ‘on the beat’ in rural communities.
Examples given included Ulverston, Windermere, Ambleside, Kirkby Stephen and Brampton.
She also talked about the challenge of policing this year’s Appleby Horse Fair, which was, in terms of attendance, understood to have been the busiest since 2015 and saw a 28 per increase in arrests made.
Kirkby Stephen councillor Phil Dew said the force had been prepared to commit significant resources to the event, which hadn’t always been the case.
