Axe looming over police tack, stops
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EXCLUSIVE by Karen Miles II Tachograph offence investigation and patrolling have been formally targeted for the first time as areas of police work which can be cut.
A report by management consultant KPMG Peat Marwick McLintock says traffic police work on commercial vehicle and tachograph examination should be reduced. More work should be passed on to the Vehicle Inspectorate.
The report, which has yet to be published, estimates that police vehicle and tachograph work costs around £2m a year in England and Wales. KPMG also questions the proportion of traffic police time taken up with patrol work. Routine patrols cost an estimated £100m a year and KPMG says preventative work should be examined further to see if greater benefits could be obtained through better targeting of resources.
But Senior traffic police fear that any withdrawal by the police would fail to be matched by a proportional increase in resources to the Vehicle Inspectorate's traffic and vehicle examiners. "I don't think the VI would take it all on," says one source. "The VI is a softer target for police cuts than the police."