The government marked a major milestone in its police reform
agenda today (Tuesday, 31 January) as the Policing and Crime Bill
received Royal Assent.
The Policing and Crime Act
2017 will enhance the democratic accountability of
police forces and fire and rescue services, improve the
efficiency and effectiveness of emergency services through closer
collaboration, and build public confidence in policing.
It will strengthen the protections for persons under
investigation by, or who come into contact with, the police;
ensure that the police and other law enforcement agencies have
the powers they need to prevent, detect and investigate crime;
and further safeguard children and young people from sexual
exploitation.
Home Secretary said:
This act is another major milestone in our far-reaching police
reforms over recent years.
The measures in the act give greater protections for the
vulnerable, ensure the police have the necessary powers to keep
our communities safe, and overhaul the police complaints and
disciplinary systems to increase accountability and improve
police integrity.
We have also sought to ensure forces have the right people and
skills to cope with the changing nature of crime, improve
efficiency and effectiveness of our emergency services through
greater collaboration and end the injustice of individuals
spending extended periods on pre-charge bail.
I look forward to continuing to work with the police and
stakeholders as the measures in the act are implemented.
The act includes provisions which will:
- reform pre-charge bail to put a stop to people remaining on
bail for lengthy periods with no independent judicial scrutiny of
its continued necessity
- better enable chief officers to make the most efficient and
effective use of their workforce by giving them the flexibility
to confer a wider range of powers on police staff and volunteers
(whilst for the first time specifying a core list of powers that
may only be exercised by warranted police officers) and
conferring a power on the Home Secretary to specify police ranks
in regulations, thereby affording the flexibility to introduce a
flatter rank structure
- place a new duty on police, fire and rescue and emergency
ambulance services to collaborate where it is in the interests of
their efficiency or effectiveness and enable police and crime
commissioners (PCCs) to take on responsibility for the governance
of fire and rescue services, where a local case is made
- improve the response to those in mental health crisis -
including stopping those under 18 from being detained in a police
station - and restricting such detention for adults - by
reforming police powers under sections 135 and 136 of
the Mental Health Act 1983
- reform the police disciplinary and complaints systems to
ensure that the public have confidence in their ability to hold
the police to account, and that police officers will uphold the
highest standards of integrity
- increase in the maximum sentence for stalking involving fear
of violence from five to ten years’ imprisonment
- amend the Police and Criminal
Evidence Act 1984 (PACE), including to ensure that
17-year-olds who are detained in police custody are treated as
children for all purposes, and to facilitate the increased use
of video link technology
- amend the firearms acts to better protect the public by
closing loopholes that can be exploited by criminals and
terrorists, and by issuing statutory guidance to ensure that the
robust processes we have in place for assessing suitability to
hold a firearms certificate are applied consistently
- confer pardons, subject to conditions, for individuals living
or deceased who were convicted of now abolished gay sex offences
- improve protection for victims of forced marriage and give
them more confidence to come forward by providing them with
lifelong anonymity
Minister for Policing and the Fire Service, , said:
Police reform is working and crimes traditionally measured by
the survey have fallen by a third since 2010 to a record low.
I am delighted this act has now received Royal Assent and, in
close collaboration with police and fire stakeholders, we will
work hard to implement the act’s provisions to further improve
the effectiveness and accountability of our emergency services.
Read more information on the
Policing and Crime Act.
