Britain to get its personal ‘FBI’ in largest shake as much as UK police in 50 years
As the Home Secretary continues to crack down on police forces for their inefficiency across the UK, dozens of police forces are set to shut down under new government plans
The way police patrol our streets could be about to change dramatically(Image: Getty Images)
Britain is set to get its own FBI as the number of police forces are slashed from 43 to as few as 10. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is preparing to announce the biggest reshaping of the service’s structure in more than 50 years.
One police official said they expected the number of remaining forces across England and Wales could be ‘counted on both hands’. The Home Secretary will argue larger forces are vital to make policing more effective at tackling quality-of-life crimes such as shoplifting, phone theft and anti-social behaviour.
A hi-tech FBI-style super-force could be brought in to conduct major investigations into terrorism, organised crime, drug gangs and possible serial killings. While a ‘New Tricks’ style specialist cold case unit could probe older unsolved mysteries such as the hunt for York university chef Claudia Lawrence’s killer or the search for Madeleine McCann.
A Government official said a white paper to be published on Monday (January 26) — titled ‘From local to national: a new model for policing’ — will establish an independent review to decide the number of future forces and their precise design. The reorganisation will be the largest since 1974 when constabularies outside London were merged to create large forces such as Merseyside and Greater Manchester Police.
But the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, which represents elected officials currently overseeing most forces, warned against creating larger force areas. In a joint statement police and crime commissioners Matthew Scott and Clare Moody said: ”Experience shows that the creation of regional forces would be expensive, time consuming and complex to deliver.
“The public want neighbourhood policing. There is no evidence to suggest the public would welcome bigger forces and in terms of public accountability, it also risks creating a separation between police forces and the local communities they serve.
“It makes responding to local policing and crime needs more difficult and removes the link between local taxpayers and the police they increasingly directly fund through the policing precept. Financial savings from creating larger force areas could be outweighed by the very significant set-up costs.
“We also contest the principle behind it — that bigger forces are necessarily better which is not borne out by experience and force performance comparisons.” The pair said recent evidence of ‘shocking behaviour’ at London’s Charing Cross police station showed there was ‘still much to do to improve standards in policing’.
They went on: “Delivering culture change in larger organisations is more difficult. Police reform has to be about more than just reorganising structures and delivering operational policing — it also has to provide robust governance nationally and locally to be able to scrutinise and address police leadership, ethics and culture.”
Surrey’s Police and Crime Commissioner Lisa Townsend said plans to merge her force with neighbouring Sussex would be a ‘complete disaster’. The white paper will promise to have a new structure in place by the scheduled end of the next parliament in 2034;.
Ms Mahmood has already said she will abolish police and crime commissioners. Instead, she will hand oversight of forces to local authorities and elected mayors.
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