Biggest policing shake-up in 200 years as new crack squads to be created
Shabana Mahmood will next week unveil a policing blueprint that will give the Government more powers to sack chief constables and tackle failing forces
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood will announce sweeping changes to policing next week(Image: Anadolu via Getty Images)
Crack squads will be sent in to failing forces as part of the biggest policing shake-up in history, the Government has announced.
Long-awaited reforms will also give the Home Secretary the power to sack chief constables. It comes days after Shabana Mahmood voiced frustration she had no power to remove the head of West Midlands Police.
The Home Office has branded a sweeping white paper expected next week “the largest reforms since the police service was founded two centuries ago”. This is tipped to see the number of forces slashed, with the National Police Chiefs’ Council calling for 43 forces in England and Wales to be reduced to 12.
READ MORE: Keir Starmer hits back at Donald Trump slur – ‘wrong to diminish’ our troopsREAD MORE: Nigel Farage’s Reform hypocrisy exposed by letters as turncoat flip-flops on decision
Ms Mahmood is said to be alarmed over the lack of accountability of police forces. Under the plans, each one will have to publish an online dashboard to show how they are performing on key priorities. These include 999 response times, neighbourhood team sizes and solving crimes.
Ms Mahmood said: “The police are the public, and the public are the police. It is essential that the people can determine what they expect from their forces.
“I will make police forces accountable to both parliament and the public – driving up standards so they fight more crime in their communities.”
The new policing blueprint will give the Home Secretary the power to send in specialist teams to turn around forces. And experts from best-performing constabularies will be drafted in to drive up standards.
Ms Mahmood faces calls to be radical with her proposals. On Friday a report by the Tony Blair Institute called on her to create a UK-wide police force focusing on organised crime, cybercrime and terrorism.
This should be accompanied by a national digital forensics agency and country-wide facial recognition technology, it said. The think-tank’s politics and policy senior director, Ryan Wain, said having 43 forces in England and Wales is inefficient and unrealistic.
He said: “Criminals do not respect force boundaries. Neither should core policing capability.”
Greater powers will see the Home Secretary given authority to sack chief constables. Earlier this month Ms Mahmood declared she had no confidence in West Midlands boss Craig Guildford after he presented incorrect information to MPs.
Despite this, she had no power to remove him, and he made the decision to retire several days later.
The Government will also get greater powers to act against forces who do not follow recommendations to improve. And the white paper, to be unveiled on Monday, includes measures to improve police vetting.
Those with a caution or conviction for violence against women and girls will be barred from joining. And stronger requirements to suspend officers accused of crimes will also be introduced.
