Rowley proposes 8 to 10 regional police forces

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mark Rowley has called for England and Wales to replace its 43-force policing structure with eight to 10 regional forces, hundreds of local commands and a National Police Service. He set out the proposal in a speech in Manchester on November 6, arguing that policing must adapt to crimes that cross local and national boundaries. The proposed national service would handle counterterrorism and serious and organised crime, while regional forces would share specialist resources and local commands would focus on neighbourhood policing. Rowley said a larger structure could reduce duplicated work and free thousands of roles for frontline services. Those benefits are his projections, not outcomes from an adopted plan. Rowley cited organised crime, fraud, online child abuse, cybercrime and hostile states as threats that can operate across regional or international borders. He argued that police organisations remain divided along local boundaries and rely too heavily on staff goodwill to compensate for structural limits. He also said police funding in England and Wales had declined from about 0.9% to 0.7% of gross domestic product since 2010. The proposal...