“Policing is at a crossroads, with tough decisions to make.”

Opening the annual NPCC APCC Partnership Summit, NPCC Chair Chief Constable Gavin Stephens spoke of the significant choices and tough decisions policing continues to navigate during increasingly turbulent times.

Gavin underlined the fact policing is at a crossroads; citing the ongoing work around police reform, the changing political landscape, an increasingly divided society and acknowledged the impact of last week’s announcement regarding police and crime commissioners.

The focus of the 2025 summit is on the delivery of stronger, safer and more cohesive communities in an increasingly digital world. Gavin spoke of the widespread protests across the UK in the last year which have created significant societal division, a sad and stark position which 84% of those asked in a recent IPSOS survey agreed with.

Gavin highlighted the need for greater balance in the Government’s focus on the policing workforce, with equal emphasis on both officers and staff. He spoke of how successive governments have used police constable numbers as a proxy measure of success, saying

“there is no other profession where the quantity of one employee type is used in such a way. The office of constable is precious and unique in so many ways, but so is the role of police staff – both need to be supported by the very best technology possible. We must recognise that the police workforce needs to change to ensure we can keep up with modern police demands.” 

Gavin called for recognition of science, data and technology as intrinsic to operational policing and not a support function, saying:

“We need to invest in greater digital expertise to enable the rapid deployment of proven technologies, as it will bring more criminals to justice with less delay, and consequently protect more victims.  To inform this science and technology investment, we must be clear about the problems we need to solve, with a focus on diagnostics - before prescription.” 

Gavin closed with a clear and determined focus that policing has to progress forward, carving out a new path and must not fall back to past ways of working and structures which are clearly no longer fit for purpose. He spoke of how difficult choices have to be made, from ensuring policing is equipped to tackle the challenges from online harms which now drive so many crime types to designing a police service set up to succeed for decades ahead – and all of this, of course, in an environment with increasing financial pressures where every penny counts.

Despite the challenges and adversity, Gavin is confident that policing has the right people, technology and drive to meet our communities’ needs. He finished with a defiant ambition: 

“We will find ways to make the internet a hostile place for criminality,... 

 “We will, knowing that we are only ever custodians for the next generation, find a design for policing that is fit for the next half a century, and... 

“We will have a workforce that exploits the very best of UK science and technology to keep people safe.”

Read his full speech below:

NPCC Chair Chief Constable Gavin Stephens

Good morning all and welcome to the annual APCC NPCC Summit 2025, delivered in collaboration with the College of Policing.

A sincere thank you to PWC – our principal sponsor, and all of the other sponsors and exhibitors who have made this event possible, enabling us to bring together law enforcement, Government and industry at a contentious time for policing.

At times like this, we need clear thinking, and I congratulate PWC for being highly commended at the MCA Awards last week for their work on police reform.

As we open this summit today, we do so at a crossroads, with tough decisions to make, and choices over which direction we take.

We saw last week just how significant those choices really are, and I don’t for one minute underestimate the impact this has on colleagues in this room and in PCC and PFCC teams across England and Wales.

In light of last week's announcement, I’d like to personally thank Emily, Phil and the APCC team, who very quickly sent a strong message that we have work to do, and that this summit loses none of its importance in setting out our collective approach.

Policing isn’t a forgiving sector at the best of times, and the same can be true for politics. I know that the news of last week wasn’t positive for everyone and on behalf of NPCC colleagues I want to acknowledge that.

We know that each and every person in this room is absolutely committed to keeping the public safe, which has been and will remain our common goal.

Over the coming months we will continue to work together to establish the scale and nature of police reform and the choices we need to make to establish a police service that is fit for the future. On a practical point, the NPCC Vice Chairs will lead our work on transition planning, so do take the opportunity during the summit to begin that dialogue.

Before I go further, I wanted to pause and pay tribute to Baroness Helen Newlove, whose passing last week was as sad as it was shocking.

Having suffered an unimaginable tragedy, and despite having every reason to turn her back on the criminal justice system, she did the very opposite...

...dedicating her life to guide us, to make sure others didn’t face the same challenges she herself faced.

Up until recent weeks, Helen, as she insisted on being called, had been supporting us on victim support in relation to high-profile national investigations. She was widely admired by colleagues for her dignified, persuasive and effective approach to changing national policy and practice. She was a true critical friend, who told you home truths in a way that compelled you to take action.

Her legacy is one of extraordinary bravery, advocacy and leadership, and we should all be determined to make sure that victims of crime remain at the very heart of any changes we make, now and in the future.

On behalf of policing, thank you Helen, and sincere condolences to her family.

This year’s summit is focused on how we deliver stronger, safer and more cohesive communities in an increasingly digital world.

At times this year, our United Kingdom has felt increasingly divided, a position which, in a recent IPSOS survey 84% of those asked agreed with.

Once a route to peaceful resolution, widespread protests have left widespread tensions in their wake, with anti-Semitic hate crime and incidents of islamophobia at record highs.

Between June and August this year alone, over 3000 protests took place across the UK, three times as many as two years previous and some ending in violent disorder.

While we absolutely support the right to a peaceful protest in the democratic society in which we live and serve, I cannot stand here and say they have all been of that nature, or ignore the relentless demand it puts on our service.

Too often, these protests have been fuelled by disinformation, the majority of which has been spread online, with inflammatory narratives acutely affecting the safety of our communities in the physical world.

I’m sure there are many in this room who have stepped forward to lead and suffered online abuse that has left them fearful for their own safety as a result.

It is a pervasive threat, not yet countered by sufficient safety measures.

In the hands of those with mis intent, the internet is a very dangerous place, not least with the phenomenon known as ‘Com networks’, an emerging threat which, in the past three years has increased six-fold here in the UK.

These online communities see predators working together, using social media platforms to target, groom and push young teens into harming themselves and others, in horrifying ways.

…and this activity knows no border.

An NCA investigation into a group known as 764 recently led to arrests for child abuse, kidnapping and murder in 8 countries, including the UK...

...and they are one of many.

These groups are not hidden on the dark web, they are well within reach, in the same online world, games and platforms young people use on a daily basis.

Simply put, the internet is being used as a gateway by abusers, with a recent NSPCC survey finding an 82% rise in online grooming against children in the last 5 years.

Policing will always play its part in protecting the public, but we cannot be the arbiters of safety on the internet, any more so than we are for the safety of other big communications systems like air travel, or fast roads, advances in society which required equally significant changes in safety measures, developed over many years with global cooperation on investment.

So, to our first choice of direction at the crossroads, what should the role of policing be in the safety of the online world?

How can we lead practical change to ensure that some of the money being made by these online companies is invested back into the safety of those young people and children being put at significant risk?

I strongly believe that to take on challenges like this, we need to reform at a quicker pace.

Last year, the previous Home Secretary committed to a National Centre of Policing. In my summit speech I very deliberately referred to it as a National Policing Directorate, with the mandate to set direction on the issues being faced by our service at a national level, from violence against women and girls, to online threats, to cyber-crime.

I also set out that it was one of five components of reform, all of which must be focused on local community safety. The online threats I’ve described may be connected internationally, with national responses needed, once and for everybody, but their effects are felt in families and in communities.

A National Policing Directorate must have at its core effective ways of listening and consulting, so it can lead on issues of national concern, remove duplication, improve consistency and enable forces to focus on areas of local community concern, which we know is essential for rebuilding confidence.

Crucially, it must support our political leaders in making well informed choices over limited resources, crucial if we hope to deliver against what are some of the most ambitious missions this service has ever seen, with aims to halve violence against women and girls, and halve knife crime, both critical areas of public concern.

As crime becomes increasingly borderless, a national centre must enable us to work in robust coordination with other law enforcement agencies, to strengthen our response to emerging, international issues that pose a serious threat to our national security.

So, to our second choice in direction at the crossroads, as we look at a deliberate design for the policing of the future, which of our responses should be national, or international? Which need regional effort? And what absolutely has to be preserved locally?

Before handing over to Emily, there is one final choice I’d like to address. It is perhaps the one most prominent in the theme of this year’s summit.

In any reform, the choices we make on digital, data and technology are going to be crucial in determining how effective we are and in how we rebuild trust.

From fingerprints to facial recognition, UK policing is no stranger to the use of tech to improve its service. In fact, this year marked 30 years since the introduction of the National DNA database, a game changer not just for policing, but the wider criminal justice system.

Can you imagine where we would be without DNA? Can you imagine where we could be with widescale deployment of new technologies?

To echo Rob Carden at our recent event in Liverpool, science, data and tech are not support functions. They are operational policing.

And yet, successive governments have used police constable numbers as a proxy measure of success. I know of no other profession where the quantity of one employee type is used in such a way. The office of constable is precious and unique in so many ways, but so is the role of police staff – both need to be supported by the very best technology possible. We must recognise that the police workforce needs to change to ensure we can keep up with modern police demands.

We need to invest in greater digital expertise to enable the rapid deployment of proven technologies, as it will bring more criminals to justice with less delay, and consequently protect more victims.

To inform this science and technology investment, we must be clear about the problems we need to solve, with a focus on diagnostics - before prescription.

Last month, the NPCC Problem Book was launched, which outlines the key areas of concern for both policing and the public, to explore how the technology sector may be able to help us tackle them.

Earlier this month we also launched the Police Academic Centres of Excellence, a partnership between policing and academia. At the launch it was fascinating to see the interaction between the different disciplines, between new sensor technologies, data exploitation, social and economic research.

On the latter we published a report this year that demonstrated for every £1 of investment we make into policing, there is a £4.17 return on housing stock value alone – a similar return to major infrastructure projects. This report told us something that we’ve instinctively known for some time, policing is not only good for safety, but also for business and growth. The research will continue this year with a focus on town centres.

So, to our third choice in direction at the crossroads, how should the money in policing be spent? What should the balance be on technology and infrastructure, versus workforce and their development? And, in that workforce, how do we adapt to the need for a much wider range of roles and skills?

As I stand at this crossroads, looking at some of these choices...

The role of policing when online harms have become a driver of crime, the deliberate design of policing to set us up to succeed in the decades ahead, and how to get the best from the money the public invest in policing, I know one thing for certain.

I cannot turn around and head back in the direction we came from. We cannot retrace our steps. We must have confidence in our stride, be ambitious in our intent, and at the very time when public finances are tough, use that as an opportunity to make difficult choices.

If we do...

We will find ways to make the internet a hostile place for criminality,...

We will, knowing that we are only ever custodians for the next generation, find a design for policing fit for the next half a century, and...

We will have a workforce that exploits the very best of UK science and technology to keep people safe.

Thank you.