A report released this week shows that since the Tory Police Commissioner scrapped our state-of-the-art police helicopter base at Pembrey and signed up to the National Police Air Service (NPAS), response times in Dyfed Powys average 57 mins compared to 30 elsewhere. In only a third of requests for air support from Dyfed Powys police does an aircraft even turn up.
In other words, we as taxpayers in Dyfed Powys are just not getting our money’s worth – we are paying in but not getting our fair share. This report tells us the NPAS is financially unsustainable, with insufficient funding to replace its ageing fleet of aircraft.
We need urgent action to get a decent helicopter service back, so I’ll be calling on the current Police and Crime Commissioner to step up to the mark, and take this fight to the Home Office. You simply cannot do security on the cheap.