Bedfordshire police and crime commissioner says reform is 'long overdue' as Met Police chief calls for fewer forces
Bedfordshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner John Tizard has said that police reform is “long overdue”, as the Metropolitan Police’s own commissioner outlined how he believed fewer forces would mean “stronger local policing.”
Met Police chief Sir Mark Rowley says he believes constabularies should be combined into eight to 10 regional forces to combat increasingly sophisticated crime.
Sir Mark claims that reforming the system will cost less than modernising the current system of smaller forces and will give them the scale and expertise needed.
He told Times Radio: “Fewer forces will mean stronger local policing with the right teams behind them, with specialist skills, and more money being spent locally and less being wasted on so many headquarters and so many bosses and so many collaborations.
“As a professional, and it hurts me to say this, we are going to fail to be able to do that if we can’t be organised in a way that meets the challenges of 21st-century crime.”
Police and Crime Commissioner Tizard said: “Police reform must strengthen local policing units which include community policing, response policing, CID functions, safeguarding, prevention, and partnership with local authorities.
“These local policing units should be accountable to locally elected officials, be they mayors, local authority boards, or in the short-term PCC, whilst being operationally independently accountable to the Chief Constable.
“The larger police services would be like the current collaborative services that exist through Bedfordshire’s partnership with Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire, including armed policing, road traffic policing, major crime investigations, scientific services support and enhanced local policing.
“I recognise the need for mergers but would prefer a footprint such as Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, and Hertfordshire rather than a larger and more remote geographical base.
“The three police service collaboration has fifteen years’ experience of collaboration, and we spend about 25 per cent of our budgets together.
“We have common HR and IT systems including our approach to the use of AI.
“We must not oppose reform for the sake of opposition or for nostalgic reasons. We must focus on improving outcomes and building public trust and confidence.”
The Government launched a review to consider dramatically reducing the number of police forces in January this year.
The review, led by former Scotland Yard chief Lord Bernard Hogan-Howe, will make recommendations on how to restructure policing.
Sir Mark set out further details of his views in a speech in Manchester today.