This briefing produced by the House of Commons Library is
designed to provide a ‘beginners guide’ to policing policy in the
UK. It discusses the key legislation for the governance of police
services, how police forces work, including when they work
together and how they organise their staff, and how they are
overseen.
The police service in the UK is divided into 47 separate police
forces: 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales, a
national police force in both Scotland and Northern Ireland and
2 specialist police forces: the British Transport Police and
the Civil Nuclear Constabulary.
Policing policy is devolved, and the UKs constituent countries
have taken divergent approaches to the organisation of policing
services. Major reforms to policing have recently taken place
in both England and Wales and Scotland. In England and Wales
power for making policy decisions for local policing have been
largely transferred to Police and Crime Commissions and local
Mayors. The Home Office has therefore switched its focus to
combating serious and organised crime nationally. In Scotland,
the former regional police forces have been merged to create
one national police force: Police Scotland.
Police services across the UK are having to contend with
multiple challenges. Many forces have been under financial
pressure following austerity measures implemented since 2010.
They are also responding to evolving crime threats including
digital crime and serious violence.
Overall the inspectorate of constabulary has reported that the
police are responding well to these challenges. However, there
are continuing concerns with the resourcing of police forces
and their ability to be ‘self-reforming’.
This briefing does not explain the system for funding police
services. This is covered in a separate library
briefing: Police funding. This
paper does not describe the police complaints system in detail.
For help understanding how complaints about the police are
handled please see the Library paper Police complaints
systems in the UK.
This paper does not provide statistics on police services.
Information about the number of police staff can be found in
the paper: Police service
strength.
Download briefing
paper: http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-8582/CBP-8582.pdf
