'The time for excuses is over'

THERE are times when you sense an organisation is reaching a pivotal moment in its history, when a decision is so crucial it will have a lasting future impact. Cleveland Police faced such a situation three years ago. The departing Chief Constable had left a multi-million pound financial "blackhole" in his wake, along with a demoralised force and performance so poor the Home Office had sent in its standards unit.

At the time, the new Chief Constable, Sean Price, and I agreed to tell the public about this gap in police funding. We felt taxpayers deserved to know what was going on and that it was essential everything be out in the open so a proper recovery plan could be mapped out.

Mr Price and the chairman of the Cleveland Police Authority, Dave McLuckie, have done a good job. A new finance chief with experience of the private sector got to grips with the purse strings and a completely fresh ACPO team (a force's most senior officers) put the emphasis on performance.

The Home Office was impressed by the new team's recovery plan, provided funding, and the results have been encouraging. The funding gap has been closed without compulsory redundancies, performance improved and the standards unit no longer required. Still much to do, but things are going the right way.

Recent events suggest to me that Durham Police - and very possibly other forces across the country - now face a similar pivotal moment in history and its crucial the right person is appointed to lead the force.

In February, the Commons heard from Durham MP Roberta Blackman-Woods that the force was heading for a massive shortfall in funding that threatened the jobs of police officers, support officers and civilian staff.

Durham Police Authority's vice-chairman dismissed such claims, telling The Northern Echo: "It is a load of rubbish. Do you think we'd allow that? If there are cuts we'll find them, but not at the expense of police officers. We have a duty to the public and our duty is not to cut back police officers."

News yesterday that the force is now planning swingeing cuts unless they are given an extra £10.5m in the next three years suggests the Police Authority either didn't know what was going on or failed to come clean with the public.

It's not the only example of Durham being reluctant to outline their problems. On October 25, 2005, as part of the force merger consultation, I met Durham's then Chief Constable, Paul Garvin, and the chair of the Durham Police Authority. In trying to persuade me to support the single regional force proposal, they made no mention of the severe funding crisis. This was disingenuous since Cleveland and Northumbria would have had to foot the bill if a superforce came to pass.

Rather unnecessarily, Mr Garvin chose instead to publicly use a football analogy to liken his force to Liverpool and Cleveland to Crewe. Well, I'm not aware that the five-times European champions face a funding crisis and are set to sack some star players.

This is not the first time Durham Police has been to the Home Office to ask for additional funding. The latest recovery plan appears to have been drawn up by a number of people from within Durham Constabulary and the Durham Police Authority. Taxpayers may be asking whether anyone with a fresh pair of eyes from outside the force has been invited to contribute to the thinking pool.

Mr Garvin is now retired and the Police Authority is set to interview potential successors. This may come as a surprise to some as Mr Garvin's Deputy, Jon Stoddart, continues to call himself the Chief Constable.

In fact, his appointment was only ever temporary until the conclusion of the merger debate when the normal selection process could begin.

Perhaps Mr Stoddart thinks he has the job in the bag, but at Lancashire and Thames Valley, where similar temporary appointments were made during the merger debate, those appointees have had the good grace to make clear they are Acting Chief Constables. I believe that is a better way to go about things.

Durham Police Authority has allowed Mr Stoddart to continue to refer to himself as the Chief. Perhaps that is one of the reasons why so few people have actually applied for the job. If the reports that only Mr Stoddart and one other applicant are to be interviewed are correct, then that is very worrying because, in spite of this financial crisis, Durham remains a highly respected force and I would have thought there are many excellent police officers who would be honoured to lead it.

The Police Authority may decide Mr Stoddart's solution is the best - but doesn't it make sense to have as many top-rate candidates as possible outline in interview how they would solve the problem?

I raise these issues neither out of mischief or malice for Durham Constabulary but for the same reason I raised concerns about Cleveland's finances - the public who pay the bills deserve to know.

Funding gaps of this magnitude do not appear overnight. They mount up over the years and the public may be asking whether steps could have been taken during those years to avert the current crisis.

The idea of a superforce may be dead but, in the future, there will be far greater collaboration between the North-East forces and it is in all our interests that they are in the best possible shape.

Cleveland has shown that, if a force is prepared to bite the bullet, come clean with a problem, encourage fresh thinking and draw up a coherent financial and operational rescue plan, the Home Office will provide funding that avoids the need for compulsory redundancies.

It's crucial that the Durham Police Authority, local councils and Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary get a grip. They must be seen to be the watchdog of Durham police, not the lapdog.

Before taxpayers are asked to bail out Durham Police, whether through the precept or Treasury coffers, they deserve to be told exactly what the current position is and how it will be resolved just as the people of Cleveland were. And input should not be limited simply to people who are part of the fixtures and fittings of Durham Police.

The time for excuses is over. More candidates should be encouraged to apply for the job of Durham Chief Constable. They need to spell out how they will rectify the errors of the past so that the successful candidate, and the Police Authority who appoint him or her, can be held publicly to account.