THE POLICE, fire and ambulance services play a vital role in keeping us safe and serving our community.

They already work side-by-side in a wide range of situations. Greater collaborative working is not only more effective, but more efficient – saving money as well as lives.

But a terrorist attack is such a unusual incident that even the best planning and co-ordination can go out of the window in the chaos that ensues.

That’s why emergency services in West Yorkshire are planning to work more closely together as part of a pilot scheme to avoid repeating mistakes made after the Manchester Arena bombing.

The scheme could see the emergency planners from the local police, fire and ambulance services working in the same office to improve responses to any potential major incidents in West Yorkshire.

Each organisation currently has a separate team to handle emergency situations, focusing on the individual services.

As a result interactions between teams from each service are “informal” and ad hoc.

So co-locating staff emergency planning staff at Elland Road Station in Leeds would seem to make sense. Sharing of information and intelligence would be a seamless process resulting in better communication and a more response.

Our public services need to continually adapt and innovate in response to the threats we face.

Better co-operation in the face of dire emergencies can only be a good thing.