There have been calls for merging our 43 local police forces into bigger regional constabularies for two decades at least, almost as long as I’ve been a crime reporter.
The government argument – difficult to counter – is that it’s a waste of money to have so many police fiefdoms with their own headquarters and management teams and different methods of procuring technology and equipment.
Some of those local forces have long been forced to combine resources on major investigations that cross their county boundaries.
And how often do we hear those forces having to call for reinforcements or specialist help when they cannot cope alone with major incidents?
Shabana Mahmood is a self-styled reforming home secretary, and she’s been hinting she would bring in major change.
It’s a huge shake-up of policing in England and Wales, which she believes will put the right police officers in the right places to better tackle crime on its various levels.
Big regional forces will tackle major crime such as murder, rape, county lines drug dealers, but within them will be a neighbourhood policing set-up to deal with shoplifting, muggings and anti-social behaviour – a rising scourge, the home secretary believes, that seemingly goes unpunished.
And an FBI-style National Police Service that will be newly in charge of counter-terror policing and fraud, as well as continuing its focus of tackling international organised criminals involved in people and drug trafficking.
These are long term changes, and they’ve not been universally welcomed.
The Association of Police and Crime Commissioners – all of whom are being replaced in another government plan – said that combining functions and disrupting local policing will damage recruitment and procurement of resources.
And a similar merging of eight local Scottish forces into Police Scotland in 2013 has had mixed results, with a crime reduction but fewer officers.
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The proposed changes in England and Wales reflect the government’s manifesto commitment to make public services work better.
Many crime rates have fallen in recent years, but the public sometimes has a disproportionate fear of crime. And confidence in the police is low.
It will take time to judge whether the reforms leave people feeling better protected, which is the core function of policing.
