David Ruffley MP today spoke out against the proposed merger of local Police forces following the publication of the Government's Police Performance Assessments 2004/05 on 27th October.

The results show that whilst Suffolk has performed well in this assessment other nearby forces such as Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire have not. Cambridgeshire is also going through a period of restructuring following the Soham enquiry whilst Bedfordshire has an unsound financial outlook.

David said:

'Here is new evidence of the madness of an East Anglian regional Police Force. These reports serve to emphasise the huge differences between the police force in Suffolk and the surrounding counties. Suffolk still has room for improvement in the way it deals with the public. However, it still outperforms areas like Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire.

'Cambridgeshire is still going through massive changes following the Soham enquiry and until March this year was forced to work with the Home Office to reform its management structure.

'Bedfordshire has also performed poorly in this assessment and remains unstable in terms of its finances following the incident at Yarl's Wood Detention centre in 2002.

'Do the people of Suffolk want to be thrown in with these forces, which are so very different and face vastly contrasting problems? I don't think so. The people of Suffolk must stand up now to protect their local police force before it is too late'.