Britain’s most successful police force attacks Mahmood’s reforms

The head of the best-performing police force in England and Wales has criticised Shabana Mahmood’s reform plans , warning that bigger constabularies will not necessarily be better. Mark Roberts, the outgoing chief constable of Cheshire Constabulary , said he feared proposals to reduce the number of constabularies in England and Wales from 43 to as few as eight “mega-forces” could damage front-line neighbourhood policing. He is the first chief constable to publicly express concerns about the plans, which have been pushed this week by three of Britain’s most senior police officers – Sir Mark Rowley, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Stephen Watson, the head of Greater Manchester Police, and Gavin Stephens, the chairman of the National Police Chiefs’ Council.

Sir Mark warned on Thursday that policing in England and Wales could not keep up with sophisticated modern criminals , and said standards would decline without urgent reform. The Met Commissioner is calling for the 43 forces in England and Wales to be reduced through mergers to between eight and 10 regional constabularies to focus on serious crimes such as murder, rape and drugs. A new national police service would take over counter-terrorism, fraud and serious and organised crime from local forces.

Hundreds of local commands would be set up within the regional forces to deal with everyday crimes such as shoplifting, mobile phone thefts and anti-social behaviour. The changes, originally set out in a white paper in January by Ms Mahmood, the Home Secretary, would be the biggest shake-up of police since 1964, when the number of forces was reduced from 100 to 47. Mr Roberts, who retired from his post on the day of Sir Mark’s speech, said he backed the call for a national approach to technology to avoid duplication and to make savings as well as the need to end the disparity in funding between forces based on the precepts they charge on householders’ council tax bills.

However, speaking at an event in Manchester after Sir Mark’s speech, he said: “The bit that gives me concern is the notion that you have to be big to be good. There are smaller, very effective forces. “We’re a force of 2,400 officers with highest charge rates in the country for all crime, sexual offences, online child abuse, violence against a person, violence with injury, and second in rape. “So my ask of this process is to look at the mechanics of what delivers good performance, and ... and my fear is that we end up with neighbourhood policing stripped out, and we move into that tasking process that makes it difficult for our people to get the resources that we need.

“So, analysing the reasons for our success [indicates the cause] is the availability of capacity and capability as close to the front line as possible to make it fleet of foot.” Cheshire is the highest-rated force based on HM inspections gradings, followed by North Yorkshire, Cumbria, Kent and Lancashire, according to an analysis by The Telegraph. Mr Roberts cited cases in which his surveillance teams could pass on alerts instantaneously to front-line officers with a single phone call to arrest a drug deal or “find a vulnerable child in the bed of a paedophile”.

He said he feared resources would be sucked away from the front line into bigger regional systems in Manchester or Liverpool, which would make his officers “less effective at the force and community level”. Mr Roberts added that any shake-up must adopt the approach of the military, where resources were pushed to decision-makers on the front line. Responding to the criticism, Sir Mark said the new three-tier model would end the “massive inefficiencies” from duplication of processes by having 43 forces with their own HQs, IT and ways of operating.

“We can have more resources locally in your community, whether your community is in South Manchester or in South Gloucestershire,” he said. Sir Mark argued that it would also mean frontline officers could call on specialist capabilities within their own regional force rather than having to “beg, borrow, and steal them from from regional collaborations and elsewhere”. Before entering No 10, Andy Burnham was known to have had reservations about cutting the number of forces.

Ms Mahmood’s proposals are said to have been delayed because of concerns that they could clash with the Prime Minister’s devolution agenda, which will see the creation of up to 40 mayoral strategic authorities. Ms Mahmood is considering a report she commissioned from Lord Hogan-Howe, the former Met chief, mapping the new force structure. A spokesman said the planned reforms would deliver “strong local policing” as well as “more resilient forces providing specialist capabilities to tackle serious and complex crime threats”.