UK Government reform statement - Our response

Following Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood's statement to Parliament today (Monday, January 26), Chief Constable Gavin Stephens, Chair of the National Police Chiefs' Council, said: 

“This is the most significant change in policing in the last half a century, to get policing ready to fight crime and protect the public over the next half a century.

“The current policing model was designed in the 1960s. The postcode lottery of 43 police forces doing things 43 different ways, alongside a complicated mesh of regional collaborations, national agencies and funding streams, is both inefficient and ineffective.

“The need for significant police reform has been there for more than a decade and is now urgent, in a world where 90 per cent of crime has a digital element.

“We are grateful to ministers for clearly listening to the views of policing and putting together a package of ambitious and far-reaching measures which reflect the voice of our service.

“Police leaders are clear that police reform must have empowering neighbourhood policing at its heart. These reforms will free local crime fighters from admin, bureaucracy and national distractions so they can focus on protecting the communities they serve, with access to high quality regional and national services to support them when they are needed.

“Communities will still have their bobby on the beat – and the bobby on the beat will be better equipped to fight crime in their local area.

“Policing is committed to working with ministers and other partners to bring this ambitious vision for reform to life over the coming years, alongside our core mission of fighting crime and keeping our communities safe.”

Further information: White paper: From local to national: a new model for policing