Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir Mark Rowley has called for the creation of 12-15 mega forces as part of what he described as “the first serious reform of our policing model in over 60 years”. Writing in The Sunday Times, Sir Mark said the current system of 43 county forces had not “been fit for purpose for at least two decades”.
He added that bigger forces would be better able to utilise modern technology and would reduce “expensive” governance and support functions. Sir Mark said: “The 43-force model was designed in the 1960s and hasn’t been fit for purpose for at least two decades. It hinders the effective confrontation of today’s threats and stops us fully reaping the benefits of technology.
“We need to reduce the number of forces by two-thirds, with the new bigger and fully capable regional forces supported by the best of modern technology and making better use of the limited funding available.” He characterised Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ decision to increase police funding by 2.3% above inflation each year in the recent spending review as “disappointing”.
Gavin Stephens, chairman of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, last month warned forces were facing “difficult choices” and some would “struggle to make the numbers add up” as the cost of borrowing spirals. Some have increasingly relied on borrowing, and the cost of debt is expected to rise by 49% in the next three years.
“Forces’ borrowing costs have been going up because for the last decade, local forces have had no capital investment at all,” he said. “The main capital investment has gone to big projects at the centre.”
Force chiefs want greater say over how they structure their workforces, with the removal of restrictions on ring-fenced funding that was granted by the previous government to replace officers cut during austerity. Mr Stephens said policing needs a variety of workers other than officers, including cyber specialists, crime scene investigators and digital forensic experts, in the same way that “the health service is much more than just about doctors”.
He added: “We know that the Government had some very difficult choices to make, as a consequence of this, policing is going to have some very difficult choices to make too.”
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