Metropolitan Police police reform proposals England and Wales, Digi Mart USA News (England and Wales): The police system in England and Wales cannot cope with sophisticated modern criminals without urgent reform, the head of the Metropolitan Police has said. In a speech on Friday, Sir Mark Rowley argued the system was “heading for failure” without change.
He is proposing eight to 10 regional police forces, supported by hundreds of local policing commands and a new national force. The changes would be the biggest overhaul of policing since the 1960s, replacing the current 43-force structure with three tiers: local teams dealing with neighborhood issues, regional forces sharing specialist resources, and a National Police Service tackling the most serious crimes.
In January, many senior police officers appeared to favor creating a National Police Service and organizing into much larger regional forces. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood produced a white paper that aligned with those ideas and asked former Metropolitan Police Commissioner Lord Hogan-Howe to examine what the force boundaries might be.
The source reports that everything changed in July when Andy Burnham became prime minister, and that Burnham has not spoken publicly about the plans.
Police chiefs are reportedly nervous that they may not have his backing, which may explain why they have spoken out strongly, warning of the potentially apocalyptic effect of doing nothing. They are also making a funding argument.
Sir Mark said police funding in England and Wales has fallen from 0.9% of GDP to 0.7%, meaning a growing share of spending goes to national defense while a smaller share goes to protecting communities and homes.
In his speech, Sir Mark said organized crime groups, fraud networks, cyber-criminals and those involved in online child abuse increasingly operate across regional and international borders, while police forces remain organized around local areas. “The victim remains local but increasingly the threat does not,” he said, citing children who are “groomed by predators on another continent.” He argued the current system is struggling, saying: “We have 43 overstretched forces trying to do too much, with too little.” Merging forces, he believes, would reduce duplication and could free thousands of roles for frontline policing.
Speaking on BBC Breakfast before his speech, Sir Mark said crime had changed greatly over the years but policing was largely organized as it was 60 years ago. The proposals follow a consultation launched by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood in January, which included plans for a National Police Service and a possible merger of the 43 forces into fewer, larger ones.
Some rural police and crime commissioners have described the plans as “political manoeuvring” by larger forces to “load the dice in their favour.” Dorset Police and Crime Commissioner David Sidwick reiterated strong opposition to merging forces, warning that diverting funding from frontline services could leave local communities with less. Kent’s Conservative police and crime commissioner Matthew Scott criticized the proposals, and the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners said the case for a National Police Service is clear but the case for reducing 43 forces to nine regional “mega-forces” is not.
Asked what would happen if the reforms were not put in place, Sir Mark said “the risk is failure,” meaning fewer crimes solved and less local presence when exceptional incidents occur, such as the disorder seen in Hampshire. In September, police clashed with anti-migrant protesters in Portsmouth when 120 migrants arrived in a single dinghy.
“Standing still looks like a degradation of policing day by day,” Sir Mark added.
A Home Office spokesperson defended the plans, saying: “Our current model of policing has not changed since the 1960s and is no longer fit for purpose.” Sir Mark also highlighted financial pressures, saying spending on policing had fallen from about 0.9% of GDP to 0.7% since 2010, which he described as “a big hit.” He told the BBC that investment is needed, but “if you threw loads of money at the current system it’s still not going to fix the fundamental problem.”
Sir Mark said years of underinvestment have left forces relying on ageing technology, and officers are increasingly diverted from neighborhood policing to handle demands including mental health and social care. He also pointed to falling performance, saying positive outcomes nationally are now less than half the level they were 12 years ago, while public confidence has fallen by 9%.
