- Government minister have limited powers to
intervene with forces who are failing to
fight crime, and the public have little oversight of
their local police.
- New powers to allow the Home Secretary to send
crack squads into failing forces to turn them around and sack
Chief Constables.
- The Home Secretary is set to announce the largest reforms to
policing since the police service was founded two
centuries ago.
Communities will be safer from crime as Ministers are set to be
handed new powers to intervene and
turnaround failing police forces as government
unveils the largest upgrade in police oversight in a
generation.
Police forces are not accountable to minister and the
public. Ministers are unable to sack failing police
leaders and cannot direct failing forces to improve.
The public are unable to easily see or track how their local
force is performing compared to others.
Under new measures, the police will be made accountable
to the Home Secretary. Ministers will be handed new
powers to intervene directly in failing forces, sending
in specialist teams to turn them around so
they fight crime more effectively.
If crime solving rates or police response times are
poor, the Home Secretary will be able to send
in experts from the best performing forces
to improve their performance, so
they catch more criminals.
The Home Secretary will restore the power to sack
failing Chief Constables. New laws will
hand Ministers statutory powers to force the
retirement, resignation or suspension of Chief
Constables if they are poorly performing.
The forces will also be directly accountable to the public,
with new targets on 999 response times, victim
satisfaction, public trust and
confidence. These results will
be published and forces
graded so communities can compare.
Home Secretary said:
“The police are the public, and the public are the police.
“It is essential that the people can determine what
they expect from their forces.
“I will make police forces accountable to parliament –
driving up standards so they fight more crime in their
communities.”
The turnaround model has proved effective in local
government to drive improvements in failing
councils. The failing Liverpool council was
transformed by experts being sent to help the
council and as a result they achieved
a balanced budget after facing bankruptcy.
To further reinforce accountability, His Majesty's Inspectorate
of Constabulary Fire and Rescue Services will gain statutory
powers to issue directions when forces fail to act
on his recommendations.
Alongside these force-wide measures, the government will also
ensure the highest standards from individual officers. To
strengthen safeguards and ensure those unfit for policing are
kept out of the profession, the government will
introduce laws to impose robust, mandatory vetting
standards for all police forces, ensuring the public is
protected.
These new standards will enable forces to exclude those with
a caution or conviction for violence against women and girls
offences from policing.
Stronger requirements on forces to suspend officers who are under
investigation for these crimes will also be introduced.
On Monday the Home Secretary is expected to announce
the largest reforms to policing since the police service was
founded two centuries ago.
In a white paper titled “From local to national: a new model for
policing”, Mahmood is expected to outline a radical
blueprint for reform, so local forces protect their community,
and national policing that protects us all. Underpinning the
reforms are simple aims to catch criminals, cut crime, and
protect the public.
Alongside these reforms, police forces in England and Wales will
receive the largest investment in British history to keep
communities safe. The Government is investing a record £18.4
billion to restore neighbourhood policing, cut crime and catch
criminals. This is an increase of over £3 billion and a 11% real
terms increase compared to 23/34.
