Sponsorship of police falls short of PCs
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It was encouraging to see the issue of police image and marketing being covered in your article on Strathclyde Police, “Safe as houses” (MW November 20).
However, with regard to police sponsorship, one very important fact was inaccurate and could mislead potential sponsors.
The article states that police forces in England and Wales can seek sponsorship for their core services. This is not the case, the Home Office guidelines make it clear that sponsorship can only be used to fund non-core services.
So, because police patrolling is a core service, and as such funded by government grant, the public will not be seeing “PC McBurger on a force’s uniforms”.
But it is feasible, for instance, that a community project administrator or a crime prevention campaign could be funded through sponsorship.
Police sponsorship offers a relatively new and rewarding opportunity for commercial organisations to raise their community profile and contribute to the efforts to reduce crime and the fear of crime.
Roy Philpot
Sponsorship and marketing officer
North Yorkshire Police
Northallerton
North Yorks
