ഫെയർഫോർഡ് ഭീകരാക്രമണ ശ്രമം: ചെറിയ പോലീസ് സേനകൾക്ക് പരിഷ്കരണം അനിവാര്യമെന്ന് പോലീസ് മേധാവി

The head of the police force first on the scene of last week's suspected terror plot at RAF Fairford says that its small size, limited finances and decrepit IT systems make it a suitable target for a "merger-acquisition".

Temporary chief constable Maggie Blyth cited the incident near Fairford -- which has led to the arrest of six men on terrorism charges -- as the sort of event small forces like hers struggle to manage.

Blyth was speaking as police forces across England and Wales await publication of a report by Lord Bernard Hogan-Howe, a former Metropolitan Police commissioner, setting out his proposals on how best to cut the number of forces in England and Wales from the current 43 to around 20 or fewer.

Hogan-Howe's report -- commissioned by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood -- was handed to ministers in September following further consultation with elected mayors to ensure the recommendations fit with the devolution plans of Prime Minister Andy Burnham.

With only 1,200 officers, Gloucestershire Police is one of the UK's smallest police forces -- which Blyth said caused problems coping with incidents like Sunday's apparent attempted attack at RAF Fairford.

In an interview at Gloucestershire Police's headquarters in the town of Quedgeley, Blyth said: "I cannot resource some of the specialist capabilities that I might need to have access to when a large, important incident happens or when there's a pattern of crime and offending that requires specialist capability."

The Gloucestershire force handled many aspects of the response to the Fairford incident, Blyth added. It also has responsibility for policing other sensitive sites, including the headquarters of the GCHQ security agency in Cheltenham, which is situated in the county. "The force would receive no additional resources to cover the cost of the Fairford operation," Blyth said.

Neighbouring forces sent officers to help Gloucestershire under "mutual aid" arrangements.

Five men were arrested by armed officers in Whelford, near RAF Fairford, on Sunday, September 27 on suspicion of explosives offences and preparing a terrorist act. They were released on bail the next day. A sixth man was arrested in London on October 1 on suspicion of preparing a terrorist act.

The main criminal investigation into the Fairford incident is now being led by Counter Terrorism Policing, a unit of London's Metropolitan Police.

It is not yet clear what the Hogan-Howe report will recommend and whether ministers will endorse its findings in proposals expected to be published before Christmas.

Blyth, who plans to retire when a permanent replacement is chosen, has long been in favour of her force disappearing in the merger process even before Sunday's incident.

Blyth said the force had told the government that to balance the books on its current budget would mean cutting critical parts of its operation. Such an outcome would be "nonsensical", she said.

"It doesn't make sense to me that you maintain a police force that cannot perform as well in some priority areas as other parts of the country because it's trying to do everything itself," she added.

The aim of policing reforms is to ensure forces can develop more specialist teams to tackle hard-to-investigate crimes such as domestic abuse. A new National Police Service will take charge of investigating terrorism and some other complex cases, for example.

Mergers should also help forces make better use of IT -- a particular problem for Gloucestershire, which Blyth said was suffering a "technical debt" because of the failure of previous chief constables to invest sufficiently in modern technology.

Blyth said she had already held talks with several neighbouring forces. "We have been very clear and open publicly . . . that we would be a good case for a merger-acquisition," she added.

The chief constable's stance contrasts with that of some police leaders elsewhere. The City of London Corporation, local authority for the Square Mile of the City of London, has argued vociferously that it should retain its independent police unit instead of merging with the Met, which Hogan-Howe is expected to recommend.

Tim Passmore, Police and Crime Commissioner for Suffolk, has warned that a potential merger with the neighbouring force in Norfolk would be an "unmitigated disaster".

Any eventual mergers would be the first in England and Wales since 1974. Most of today's forces emerged in the wave of consolidation that followed the 1964 Police Act.

The Home Office said it was considering the structure of police forces to ensure every part of the country had "excellent neighbourhood policing" alongside access to the specialist capabilities that communities needed.

It added: "We have received Lord Hogan-Howe's report and will set out further details in due course."

Blyth said she hoped that as part of a larger police force, those living in Gloucestershire would reap the benefits of having specialist teams to tackle crimes such as rape and domestic abuse.

"It would be much more sensible to co-ordinate that at a regional level," Blyth said. "You need to be able to harness specialist investigators and specialist knowledge where you need it."

She said that such teams could be part of tackling a new policing landscape, in which local incidents, such as the alleged Fairford attack, might have far wider ramifications.

"These days policing goes from the neighbourhood to the regional to the national to the global," Blyth said. "Policing doesn't have the need for the boundaries that were set arbitrarily in the 1960s."