Earlier this month the four police forces of Lincolnshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire & Nottinghamshire announced the Operational Support Service, which has been dubbed by ACPO officer CC Neil Rhodes as “a model for others to follow”.
Building on the existing East Midlands Police Collaboration Programme (EMPCP), the Operational Support Service is due to go live on the 31st of March and will involve collaboration around public order, command and control, armed policing and strategic roads policing.
CC Rhodes, the ACPO officer behind the initiative, states that successfully “stripping out layers of management” allows forces to “focus resources on the front line”. He goes on to say, in an interview with PoliceOracle.com, that “collaboration initiatives in the east Midlands show that, while you can create strong alliances, there is also a firm commitment to retain the local policing flavour of each county.”
CC Rhodes recognises the importance of having one joined up way of operating around functions that allow for force collaboration. It is precisely this kind of joined up working that is enabled by pam, which is being used by the collaboration to support their work.
As is also the case with Warwickshire & West Mercia’s force alliance, pam provides a means to collaborate on initiatives like the Operational Support Service all in the one place.