SURREY Police Authority has suspended its involvment in offering contracts potentially worth £1.5bn over seven years to private security firms to take on some police functions.

The decision was taken at a public meeting last Thursday, in part because potential candidates for the post of police and crime commissioner have been actively campaigning against the much-criticised privatisation move.

Already the authority has spent about £130,000 on the Business Partnering Programme and authority members questioned whether it would be right to continue to spend while the programme has an increasingly uncertain future.

For full story, see this week's Farnham Herald.