Much of the focus during the PCC elections has been on the principle of representation. Will Tanner argues that localism is equally important and that the future of policing in England and Wales must be local and democratic, not regional and bureaucratic.
At the mid-point of this Parliament, the apparatus of policing in England and Wales is undergoing far-reaching and long-overdue reform, from pay and conditions to the election of Police and Crime Commissioners today. Yet Chief Constables want more: spurred on by tighter budgets and the creation of a single Scottish force north of the border, calls to reorganise the 43-force structure of policing – to a smaller number of larger forces – are growing louder. Sir Hugh Orde, the President of the Association of Chief Police Officers, now argues in favour of merging police forces so often that it has become known as his “broken record speech”.
The call for consolidation is not new. The police service was transformed from an eclectic mix of 243 forces at the turn of the 20th Century to just 43 by the late 1960s, and two Home Secretaries proposed further regionalisation under the last Government. However, recent calls ignore the many principled and practical reasons against merging forces.
Firstly, and most simply, the best type of policing is local. Larger forces, commanded by senior officers at regional level, do not reflect the crime-fighting needs of communities or respond as effectively to their demands. The most successful forces have already shown that small is beautiful. In 2009, for example, Greater Manchester Police replaced larger Basic Command Units with new neighbourhood “hubs” and more local policing teams. Since then, the force has improved response times to some of the fastest in the country and cut investigation times by two thirds, while simultaneously saving £12 million a year. Being close to criminals and communities works.
Secondly, there is no guarantee that mergers will generate significant savings, and in fact would incur considerable upfront costs. The merger of eight local forces into a single national service in Scotland, for instance, is considerably more expensive over a five-year period than either the local or regional models also considered by Kenny MacAskill, the Scottish Justice Secretary. Charles Clarke’s proposal to replace the 43 forces in England and Wales with 12 regional “super-forces” in 2006 came with an estimated price tag of £1 billion, 10 per cent of the Home Office budget that year.
In fact, forces are already demonstrating that efficiencies can be found without costly and bureaucratic reorganisation. Thames Valley and Hampshire, for instance, now share road policing units and canine units; Warwickshire and West Mercia share everything from an Assistant Chief Constable to neighbourhood policing teams. Advances in technology and procurement mean that common systems and equipment can be achieved without national control. Collaboration without amalgamation is thriving.
Lastly, policing is essentially local in nature, meaning that forces should be accountable to the communities that bear the costs of crime. The Government has recognised this and today’s election of Police and Crime Commissioners in 41 force areas will introduce meaningful democratic accountability into policing for the first time. Any regionalisation would therefore undermine local democratic accountability and widen the gap between police officers and the citizens they serve. The future of policing in England and Wales must be local and democratic, not regional and bureaucratic.
Note: This article gives the views of the author, and not the position of the British Politics and Policy blog, nor of the London School of Economics. Please read our comments policy before posting.
Will Tanner is a Researcher at the independent think tank Reform, whose latest paper, Doing it justice: Integrating criminal justice and emergency services through Police and Crime Commissioners is available at the Reform website.
I have just found your blog following yesterday’s HASC police conference where the “broken record” subject of larger forces was replayed. Also high on the agenda was direct lateral recruitment.
I was in the police, up to Detective Inspector, for 32 years until 1995 and have always been against centralisation. I’ve experienced it first hand and found that despite promises to the contrary the outskirts of areas tend to be neglected.
Wherever I worked I took pride in localism and worked hard to integrate with local people as well as getting to know local criminals. A lot of the time I lived and worked in Croydon where I joined a cricket club with a high proportion of ethnic players and after I retired was often stopped in the streets by older wiser ex (hopefully) criminals who apologised to me for their errant behaviour and thanked me for being firm but fair with them. Apart from being personally gratifying for me it showed the value of local policing. How many Met officers now live miles out of London?
I firmly believe that today’s public are fast losing faith with the police due to their almost total absence from the streets. When they do appear it is usually in numbers and in a hurry with adrenalin pumping. In my day there were numerous scandals, like now, albeit of a different hue, but the public were unwavering in their support because they saw us being effective on the streets and there was regular and consistent interaction, not pre-arranged surgeries and meetings and certainly no social engineering.
In those circumstances you would probably expect me to support your opinion. However I strongly believe that Hugh Orde, Paul Stephenson et al are right. England & Wales should have 9 forces in line with the current ACPO regions in order to cope with serious and more sophisticated crime which small forces are having difficulty coping with despite cross border cooperation.
However we are too hung up and protective about our “traditional model of policing” and the highly disputable claim that we have “the best police force in the world.” However it’s time to change. There is no doubt that the public are getting a raw deal in relation to street policing. Prioritisation has much to do with that, particularly as the police have withdrawn from many areas of what they, unlike the public, see as minor matters such as litter, noise, parking etc. which were all things which we dealt with, and were palpably seen to deal with, as routine. It showed our public face and persuaded younger more aggressively inclined officers patrolling alone to take on board the fact that they should tread carefully as they were going to be on the same street the next day and might need some help and assistance.
You might say at this stage that regional hubs are going to worsen the situation rather than address it. That is unarguable but they would become a more finely tuned operation with only 9 Chief Constables and far less senior officers including some direct entrants like ex operational Army Officers, plus experts from other fields dealing with more serious crime and a considerable increase in Specials with appropriate expertise.
The hubs would operate a second tier, similar to the European model, and would require the need for a separate first tier borough based and funded municipal police forces, incorporating enforcement officers, wardens etc. They would deal with everyday local matters without abstraction to demonstrations, airport duty or national duties of any kind and would be supervised by a streetwise Borough Commander of Chief Inspector/Inspector rank.
“Too expensive and too complicated” some would say but with the right structuring it need not be any more costly and the public would at least see first hand what they are paying for in terms of local policing. After all when in France, Spain or other European country it is not unusual to see a smart, effective and almost avuncular styled uniformed presence, even in the smallest village.
The ideal compromise I believe if politicians and others can be shaken out of their intransigence.
You’ll not be surprised to hear me disagree with you Will, but not on all your points of course!
I totally agree that most policing is best delivered locally, but I also agree with Michael that that doesn’t mean that you can’t have larger forces. The structure above local policing units, which should be the foundation for any restructuring, could be significantly different from the current one, particularly in relation to the smaller forces in England and Wales. I accept the argument of up front costs, but am confident that this would produce savings in the medium and longer term and would assist in dealing with regional issues (both operationally and in relation to matters such as procurement) with fewer Chiefs and PCCs to reach agreements.
You refer to the strategic alliance between Warwickshire and West Mercia. In my view this is a clear example of where a merger would clearly save money. Sue to statutory requirements both these two forces currently have 2 DCCs, 2 Chief Constables and 2 PCCs. Surely this is unnecessary and inefficient, and reducing the posts to one of each through a full merger would enable the savings to be reinvested in operational policing across these two areas?
Finally your argument that larger forces would increase the distance between the public and their PCC does not hold water when we already have an equivalent of a PCC for the Metropolitan Police Service – a force covering a population of almost 8 million people.
I fully accept that there is no political will to restructure the police service, but I do fear that if the next comprehensive spending review is as severe as it is suspected to be, then I’m not sure that we can afford not to consider this as an option. No doubt this is something that we will continue to discuss in various forums over the coming months and I look forward to those debates!
Hi Will
Interesting piece. Why can’t neighbourhood policing still be done by larger forces? You say in your piece that:
“Warwickshire and West Mercia share everything from an Assistant Chief Constable to neighbourhood policing teams.”
This would seem to suggest that neighbourhood policing teams can be coordinated across the current force boundaries and still deliver for the public.
The idea that there is a common identity shared in the communities within the confines of the arbitrary police force boundaries doesn’t make sense. Many police force areas are unique in their constituency – Humberside, Thames Valley and West Mercia being cases in point. It’s rare that turkeys vote for Christmas and when people leading policing, like Sir Hugh Orde, make the case so persistently, I can’t help but feel there’s something in it. Of course there would be set up costs, but over the longer term, it makes sense to merge back office functions like HR and finance. I also think there would be benefits to crime fighting and making savings at the national level. Ten or twelve chief constables are much more likely to make decisions than getting the current 43 together.