MERSEYSIDE Police’s centralised policing model “is not working for St Helens”, a councillor has told the crime commissioner.

The force shut down its basic command unit (BCU) in St Helens in February 2017 as part of a major restructure.

Sefton, Wirral and Knowsley command units were also closed as the force moved away from its traditional neighbourhood approach to a more centralised approach.

The force now operates out of one centralised location in Liverpool, which will contribute towards £25 million of savings by 2021.

Jane Kennedy, Merseyside’s Police and Crime Commissioner, faced criticism over the centralised model from several councillors on the police and crime panel on Tuesday.

Cllr Michelle Sweeney, St Helens Council member for the Town Centre ward, said the force are working in “unprecedented times”, but said communities are “losing confidence”.

She said: “We know the work the police do and how challenging and difficult it is but ultimately, you can’t cut crime on the cheap.

“The vast experience that a lot of officers have, you cannot quantify how valuable that is to the local community. They can prevent crime just on the knowledge and experience.

“I’ve worked with some who’ve been based in St Helens and what they don’t know isn’t worth knowing.

“As we lose that, we can’t get it back, we won’t get it back once it’s gone for good. And that is my fear.”

Cllr Sweeney claimed the loss of experienced officers is contributing to the rise in crimes and violent crimes across the country, calling the cuts “criminal”.

“Our police have worked for decades to build relations, to be trusted within our community,” she said.

“And to see that removed is criminal, it really is and I’m not confident what we have going forward can meet the demands.”

Cllr Sweeney also slammed Merseyside Police’s centralised approach, saying it “is not working for St Helens”.

The Labour councillor added: “I’m sorry commissioner. I live and work in my community and have done for decades and it is a tragedy what has happened with the police.

“I know you are in difficult circumstances also, extremely difficult, but nevertheless for the people of my borough, I have concerns – I have grave concerns for the ability of the police to meet the needs.”

Cllr Jayne Aston, from Knowsley Council, also criticised the effectiveness of the centralised policing model.

The Labour councillor told the panel that she was “horrified” to discover officer figures for Knowsley at a recent meeting with the police.

Cllr Aston said: “I’m not easily shocked but I was horrified to know the numbers that are available for the whole of Knowsley.

“I don’t get shocked easily but I was really shocked with the numbers.

“And I won’t repeat them because I wouldn’t want them to be commonly known to be honest with you, it was that serious.

“But the centralised model is simply not working for the people of Knowsley – it just isn’t working.”

Labour’s Tony Smith from Wirral Borough Council said police visibility is “non-existent”.

Ms Kennedy said the real issue is down to resources, not the force’s centralised model itself.

She added that the force does still have local policing teams, although they are reduced following cuts.

Members of the panel were told the force has to make £15 million worth of savings over the next four years.

Ms Kennedy revealed the Treasury has informed police forces across the country that public sector pension funds are in danger of becoming “underfunded”.

Because of this, Merseyside Police may have to pay out an extra £11 million per year – a nine per cent increase in its employee pension contributions.

The Merseyside Police and Crime Panel were told on Tuesday this could fall to £5 million in 2019-20 if it receives help from the Home Office.

Ms Kennedy said she plans to increase the police’s council tax precept to offset the pension liabilities.

She said: “If we don’t get help with the pensions, the liabilities, the costs, we will have to lose officers. There’s no question.

“Staff posts will have to go to pay for the pension liability, which is a huge disappointment and makes it an incredible bid, not credible, to ask the people of Merseyside to increase constantly the amount of council tax they’re paying to support the police if they’re actually seeing a significantly worse position.”

The proposed council tax rise will see an increase of £12 per band D equivalent property and a £8 increase for band A equivalent property.

The rise would save the force £4.7 million.

John Riley, the commissioner’s chief finance officer, told members the savings equate to the loss of approximately 95 officers.

He said the pension contribution increase is expected to rise from 24 per cent to 33 per cent, which is expected to come into effect from April 1, 2019-20.

Ms Kennedy said every police force in the country, through the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APC) and the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC), have jointly requested government assistance with increase.

Mr Riley added: “There are discussions whether more funding could be provided or actually stopped the valuation and delay it until after Brexit because Brexit is one of the things that is actually causing a bad valuation.

“So, we wait to see what comes out of that but the advice from the Home Office is that the force plans for a nine per cent increased in employer contributions and that’s what we’ve started to do.”