Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley has called for constabularies across England and Wales to be merged into eight to ten regional forces, arguing that current resources are wasted on funding 43 separate forces. The proposal has drawn opposition from police and crime commissioners and local leaders, who fear restructuring would be costly and weaken the relationship between senior officers and communities.
Rowley's case for regional forces
Sir Mark told Times Radio that "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." He added that failing to reorganise would mean policing "will fail to be able to do that if we can't be organised in a way that meets the challenges of 21st-century crime."
The commissioner told BBC Breakfast his idea would cost "a lot less than the money we're wasting today with 43 headquarters." He said building technology "43 times over, it's just not achievable" and described the current setup as "massively wasteful." Sir Mark argued that criminals can buy and use technology without regulation, while policing is "held back by the current set-up."
Local opposition
North East Mayor Kim McGuinness warned the plans would reduce local accountability, saying: "If you move to a handful of very big forces you will risk losing the ability for local people to have their say." She stressed the need to protect local accountability through local targets, local control of budgets, and a chief constable answerable to residents, adding: "The Met is not in a position to preach to northern police forces."
Kent's Conservative police and crime commissioner Matthew Scott said Sir Mark and his allies believe "policing should suffer a decade of disruption, that local policing services should be cut back and made more remote." He argued that "every pound spent reorganising is a pound not spent catching criminals."
Government review
The Government launched a review in January to explore significantly cutting the number of forces. The review, headed by former Scotland Yard chief Lord Bernard Hogan-Howe, will put forward recommendations on restructuring. Sir Mark is due to outline his views in a speech in Manchester later on Friday, where he will say: "I believe this is a choice between the third greatest revolution in British policing or the inevitable decline and fewer bobbies on the beat."
