Greater Manchester fire and police set to be overseen by one officer
New plans could see one chief in charge of both emergency services.
Police chiefs could find themselves overseeing firefighters while fire chiefs could be put in charge of police officers if new government plans go ahead.
Under the new plans one chief from either the fire brigade or the police force would be put in charge of the two emergency services in Greater Manchester.
There’s already been some opposition to the proposals with Gary Keary from Greater Manchester branch of the Fire Brigade Union claiming it would be ‘disastrous for morale of firefighters.’
Police and Crime Commissioner Tony Lloyd who could oversee the new structure issued this statement:
“Better collaboration between the fire and police services is something we have been working on for a long time in Greater Manchester, and will accelerate under the devolution agenda and the elected mayor. Of course, we can and are looking at ways in which we can work together to improve the service to the public through collaboration.
“This is something we’ve already seen with the co-location of services at, for example, Irlam fire station. We will always look for appropriate ways that we can work in innovative partnership, but everyone recognises that the police and fire services have very different operational functions and we have no ambitions whatsoever to combine them.”