A new National Police Service (NPS) will free up local forces to tackle everyday crime by taking over responsibility for counter-terror, fraud and organised crime investigations, the home secretary has said.
Shabana Mahmood told the BBC the NPS, which she has dubbed a “British FBI”, was “absolutely not” about saving money but about designing a new policing model for England and Wales.
It will bring the work of existing agencies such as the National Crime Agency (NCA) and regional organised crime units under the same organisation, buying new technology such as facial recognition on behalf of all forces.
Mahmood said the current policing system was “broken” and the new body will form part of a series of police reforms for England and Wales which she will unveil on Monday.
Other reforms announced recently include:
- Every police officer in England and Wales will have to have a licence to practice
- Increased powers for ministers to intervene where police and fire chiefs are deemed to be failing
The NPS will cover England and Wales but be able to operate in the wider UK, setting standards and training. It will be led by a national police commissioner who will become the most senior police chief in the country.
The Home Office said local police officers have been “burdened” with tackling major crimes without adequate training, leaving them unable to address everyday offences like shoplifting and anti-social behaviour.
Mahmood told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg there was an “epidemic of everyday crime” such as phone thefts and shoplifting which often went “unpunished”.
“What I’m trying to do is design a new model for policing in this country which means we can deal with all of that everyday crime, that it is punished, that communities can have confidence that those sorts of criminals will not be able to run amok and have a national police service which can go after international criminals and national criminals who don’t respect borders,” she said.
Currently some national investigations are dealt with by local forces, with the Metropolitan Police responsible for counter-terror policing, the National Air Service run by West Yorkshire Police and National Roads Policing by Sussex Police.
These would all be brought under the NPS, along with the work of the National Crime Agency (NCA).
Intelligence and resources will be shared across different forces in stages to ensure the public receive the same level of security “no matter where they live”, the Home Office said in a statement.
It is not the first time police reforms have been described as a “British FBI”. In 2006, the Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) was nicknamed “Britain’s FBI”. The Coalition government later replaced this with the NCA, which was again dubbed “Britain’s FBI”.
The Home Office says it will also look to hire new talent outside of the force for leadership roles.
Although Mahmood said everyday crime is on the rise, overall crime – including more serious offences – has fallen.
The government claims facial recognition has led to a rapid reduction in crime – reportedly leading to 1,700 arrests in the past two years – but campaigners have raised concerns over issues with bias and privacy.
Graeme Biggar, director general of the National Crime Agency, backed the new national force and said “the overall policing system is out of date. Crime has changed, technology has changed, and how we respond needs to change”.
He added: “These are threats that affect us all locally, but need a national and international response.”
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said the changes “must not come at the expense of local community policing”.
He said: “More top-down reorganisation risks undermining efforts to catch criminals and it delivers no real improvement on the ground.”
The plans have drawn mixed reaction from senior figures in policing, with the Police Federation warning that “fewer forces doesn’t guarantee more or better policing for communities”.
The Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC) also warned that the creation of regional forces would be expensive, time-consuming and risks separating police forces from their communities.
In November, ministers announced plans to scrap police and crime commissioners in 2028 to save at least £100m and help fund neighbourhood policing.
Mahmood is seeking to give home secretaries the power to sack police chiefs and she said it was important to have accountability because “when something goes horribly wrong” with policing every body looks at the home secretary.
She said she would have sacked the former chief of West Midlands Police Craig Guildford, who initially refused to resign despite an outcry over the force’s handling of a decision to ban Israeli football fans from attending a match.
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