National standards, local delivery: police reform in England and Wales.

VerfasserJones, Trevor
PostenReport

1 Introduction

In 2006 central government attempted unsuccessfully to radically re-engineer policing in England and Wales by reducing the 43 police forces to a small number of strategic police forces. An earlier report by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of the Constabulary (HMIC) in 2004, called Closing the Gap, had claimed that the current 43 police force structure was no longer 'fit for purpose' and, in the interests of efficiency and effectiveness of policing, should change. The Home Secretary proposed the creation of a limited number of strategic police forces. A central argument underpinning these proposals was the issue of performance, and the government claimed that smaller forces were not capable of delivering 'security and protective services' effectively (O'Connor 2005). Following these proposals, the Home Secretary set out an extremely short timescale for the reorganization. Police authorities and forces were required to consult with their publics and develop proposals, in collaboration with neighboring force areas, for mergers that would meet the Home Secretary's requirements. Failing this, merger would be imposed from the centre. Considerable time and resources were devoted to the preparation work for merger--an estimated [pounds sterling]10 billion pounds. Whilst some police authorities and chief constables strongly resisted the proposals from the outset, in some parts of the country there was more support for the idea of mergers and a number of initial proposals were put forward (Tregidga 2006). The proposals quickly became mired in great political controversy, although it was events outside of the field of policing that were eventually to derail them. The Home Secretary, Charles Clarke, for whom the restructuring had become something of a personal crusade, was sacked following a number of scandals in the prison service and replaced with John Reid. Within a short period of time, Reid announced that the restructuring proposals were to be postponed indefinitely. According to Godfrey, the then Home Secretary Clarke had wrongfully handled this reform as a technical exercise, largely ignoring the whole political and public dimension to the argument. 'The project was derailed as the result of police authorities, the resistance of a minority of chief constables, the support of members of both Houses of Parliament, of all parties and none, the backing of national commentators in the media and in academia, the reaction of local communities and stakeholders throughout the country and the fortunate coming to a premature end of the ministerial career of Charles Clarke' (Godfrey 2007: 75). The whole controversy over force restructuring and its outcome showed the existence of strong resistance against (powerful) tendencies to further centralize the organization of policing, not to mention the even stronger opposition to the idea of a national police force. The debate also demonstrated the resilience of the existing police system, and a peculiar attachment to localism in British policing. But it made also visible the divergent and sometimes contradictory tendencies that exist in British policing.

The main aims of this paper are to give an overview of the current organization and structure of policing in England and Wales, to describe and analyze the most significant shifts that have taken place in the police system during in recent decades, and to explore the dynamics that gave rise to these shifts. In particular we will focus on changes in the organization of the police, on police governance and accountability and the centralizing and countervailing tendencies against centralization that can be distinguished within policing. Our central question is as follows: "What shifts have taken place in policing in England & Wales with regard to the work of the police, the organization of the police and the democratic control over the police, and how are these shifts to be assessed? The main body of the paper is divided into five sections, the first of which describes briefly the organizational structure of the police in England and Wales. The second section deals with the governance structure of the police. Section 3 provides an examination of the main themes within recent attempts to reform the police, focusing in particular on four aspects: modernization and professionalization, centralization, police performance management, and localism. In Section 4 we try to explain the dynamics behind the police reforms and assess their meaning. In the fifth and final section we draw the conclusions and we explore future prospects for policing in England and Wales.

2 The organization and the structure of policing in England and Wales

Regional police forces

In England & Wales, outside of the capital city, there are 41 provincial police forces, most usually covering a single county although some cover two or more county areas. In addition, there are two police forces covering London (the Metropolitan Police and the City of London Police). Police forces vary in terms of size, ranging from the largest force, the Metropolitan Police, with over 30,000 officers, to the smallest provincial force (Warwickshire) with about 1,000 officers. Recent years have seen substantial increases in police officers numbers such that the total number of police officers in England & Wales reached a record high of over 143,000 by March 2006 (Clegg and Kirwan 2006). However, numbers have dropped slightly since this time, and a major review of policing commissioned by the government has suggested that police officer numbers could be reduced by more imaginative staffing policies in the future (Flanagan 2008). The typical structure of a police force involves a headquarters (encompassing the strategic management of the force plus managerial and support departments) plus a number of local territorial units delivering operational policing in particular geographical areas of the force. The standard term for these territorial policing units is 'Basic Command Units' (BCUs). Each police force is headed by a Chief Constable, with a Deputy Chief Constable and one or more Assistant Chief Constables, who make up the Chief Officer Team (COT)--the senior strategic management body for the police force (Loveday and McClory 2007). The Chief Officer Team performs a number of roles including, corporate and strategic leadership, setting the budget in conjunction with the local police authority (see below), monitoring force performance, and promoting conformity with national policing objectives and plans.

BCUs and neighborhood teams

Each force is divided into a number of geographical units with their own officers and police staff, their own headquarters and their own mini 'command team'. The senior officer in charge--usually a Chief Superintendent--will report to the Chief Constable for policing matters in his or her BCU area. The total number of BCUs in England & Wales is 228. The average BCU now serves a population of 230,000 and includes over 420 police officers and 157 civilian staff. There is significant variation in the size of BCUs across the country, ranging from under 100 to over 1000 police officers, covering populations from 4,000 to 300,000 residents, but the general trend is towards larger units (Loveday 2006). The very significant responsibilities that lie with the BCU commanders for policing of their areas is not matched by a lot of room to move. BCU commanders remain quite tightly controlled by force HQ, with only limited budgetary powers themselves (for matters such as overtime and office equipment) (Loveday and McClory 2007). A recent development is the creation of neighborhood policing teams based on 'wards' (sub-units of smaller areas covered by local government). These teams work closely with local communities (Home Office 2005a). Their aim is to provide citizens with access to local policing services through a named point of contact, an opportunity to exert influence over policing priorities in their neighborhood, facilitate the effective development and implementation of joint action top reduce crime and disorder with key partners and the public, and to provide clear accountability and feedback to local people about what is being done in their area. By the end of 2008, all local areas had a local team consisting of police officers and Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs), possibly together with Special Constables, local authority wardens, volunteers and partners. PCSOs are a new 'patrol' rank in the police service intended to provide a 'second tier' of policing (2), established by the Police Reform Act of 2002. These are primarily patrol ranks that require a more limited amount of training and police powers, and also attract lower rates of pay. However, they are playing an increasing role in the delivery of front-line policing service in local neighborhoods. In some police forces, for example Warwickshire, there has been a move to abolish BCUs so that there is no intermediary level between HQ and neighborhood teams.

Police agencies at the national level

Besides regional police forces there are police agencies on the national level, like the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA). This is a kind of hybrid agency, working as a policing body but specializing in covert and intelligence-gathering activity. SOCA is a non-departmental public body (NDPB), not a police force, and its staff is civilian not police officers, although they have considerable designated powers. As a NDPB it is governed by a Board with a majority of non-executive members and, unlike the majority of police forces is answerable directly to the Home Secretary rather than to a Police Authority.

3 Democratic steering and control of the police: The tripartite structure

Police governance in England & Wales is characterized by a 'tripartite' (or three-way) structure that divides responsibility for and democratic control over the police between the Home Secretary, police authorities...

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