A commitment for closer working between Northamptonshire County Council’s fire and rescue service and Northamptonshire Police has been announced today (Wednesday).
Both organisations already work in partnership across a number of areas including incident response, training and campaigns to improve resilience and community safety in the county.
By strengthening this relationship, both emergency services can work together to explore new opportunities to provide greater emergency and community services, whilst also ensuring the best value for money for Northamptonshire people.
County council cabinet member for fire and public protection Councillor Andre Gonzalez de Savage said: “Closer working between Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service and Northamptonshire Police makes very good sense - not just for both organisations, but for the people of Northamptonshire too.
“In fact, in our recent IRMP consultation, 97 per cent of respondents backed the idea of the fire and rescue service working more closely with other local blue light organisations.
“The financial challenges we are all facing in the public sector mean that local services need to find new ways to work smarter and improve our capacity so that we can continue to improve the services we provide and make Northamptonshire a safer place for everyone.”
Northamptonshire police and crime commissioner Adam Simmonds said: “The police and fire services both work tirelessly to protect people and property. They already work together well and this move will enable closer working to be developed. In time this will potentially produce significant benefits for the people of Northamptonshire.”