The Home Secretary will gain new powers to directly intervene in underperforming police forces and remove chief constables who fail to meet standards under sweeping reforms announced today.
Shabana Mahmood unveiled a white paper titled ‘From local to national: a new model for policing’, which the Government describes as the largest overhaul of policing since forces were professionalised two centuries ago.
Under the proposals, ministers will be able to send specialist teams into struggling forces to improve performance if crime solving rates or response times fall short. New laws will also hand the Home Secretary statutory powers to force the retirement, resignation or suspension of poorly performing chief constables.
Forces will face new mandatory targets including answering 999 calls within 10 seconds, while response officers will be expected to reach the most serious incidents within 15 minutes in cities and 20 minutes in rural areas. Results will be published and forces graded so communities can compare performance.
His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary Fire and Rescue Services will also gain statutory powers to issue directions when forces fail to act on recommendations.
The reforms include the establishment of a new National Police Service to tackle serious and complex crime, bringing together the National Crime Agency, Counter Terrorism Policing, regional organised crime units, police helicopters and national roads policing under a single organisation led by a national commissioner.
The Government will also launch a review into dramatically reducing the current 43-force structure in England and Wales, arguing the existing model is fragmented and inefficient.
Ministers say frontline policing will save £350 million by ending the practice of individual forces procuring their own equipment and technology separately.
A major investment of over £140 million will fund new police technology, including a five-fold increase in facial recognition vans and artificial intelligence tools to help identify suspects from CCTV and doorbell footage.
Individual officers will be required to hold and renew a licence throughout their careers, with those failing to meet standards facing removal from the profession. Mandatory vetting standards will enable forces to exclude anyone with convictions for violence against women and girls.
The white paper also extends the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, placing named officers in every council ward, and announces £7 million for a graduate recruitment programme modelled on Teach First.
