WILTSHIRE Police have announced they are to decommission the rank of chief inspector after undertaking a review of their organisational hierarchy.

Other senior ranks (police officer and police staff) will also be looked at as part of the review, with the aim to provide a high quality service to the public whilst reducing bureaucracy.

Over the past few years Wiltshire Police have been operating in a complex, ever-changing external environment. With austerity continuing to have an effect there is an increased demand to deliver locally tailored services in a timely and cost effective manner.

The primary goals of this review are to create a flatter organisation, where frontline officers and staff are more empowered to make decisions in the best interests of the public, and to help the Force protect frontline policing numbers.

Wiltshire Police chief constable Pat Geenty said: “Our mission is to provide our communities with the best possible service and protect them from harm. To do this we need to be bold, innovative and courageous in the way we approach policing and that really needs to start with the way our organisation is structured.

“It’s important that we are able to react quickly and effectively when the public need us – part of that relates to the technology we use but a bigger part is around the human side of things. I want to create an empowered workforce where our staff feel capable and confident in making decisions that ultimately have the best interests of the public in mind. That means flattening our structure, reducing bureaucracy and closing the gap between what is happening on the frontline and what is being said at a leadership level.

“Clearly the removal of any rank structures, whether they are police officer or police staff, requires careful and considered management. This is not something that we can achieve overnight nor would we want to. It will start with the removal of the chief inspector rank but we will be reviewing other senior police officer and staff ranks and roles too. The Force has no immediate plans to use forced exit procedures (such as A19) for the officers involved and we will instead be relying on natural turnover over a longer period of time. We’ll be working closely with the individuals concerned throughout this process, as we will their staff associations, to ensure that the new structure is robust, resilient and utilises the expertise and knowledge of the current incumbents”.