New plans are being developed for a national police agency to spearhead efforts against terrorism and serious organized crime, as UK police chiefs plan the most significant overhaul of policing since the 1960s.
In the proposed model, counter-terrorism policing units would be granted independence from local forces and integrated into a new force comprised of at least England and Wales, and located within a new national centre for policing. Counter-terrorism policing (CTP) is currently headquartered with London’s Metropolitan police, with its director assigned by the Met commissioner.
The proposals are being developed as part of planning for a Home Office white paper foreshadowing radical police shifts, which is expected later this year. The proposed adaptations come amid mounting worries that the UK’s current design, in which 45 local forces sometimes collaborate on national issues, is not adequate to match the changing nature of crime, which has become increasingly national or international.
A working group is drawing up the plans called the Joint Reform Team, which includes the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), which is composed of police leaders across the UK. Besides senior civil servants, they sit alongside His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, the College of Policing, and elected police and crime commissioners.
The UK has been served by a network of 11 counter-terrorism units, with officers and attendants largely seconded or borrowed from other detachments. It is headed by the Met’s assistant commissioner for specialist operations, Matt Jukes.
CTP faces challenges in recruitment, currently falling short by approximately 900 personnel from a target of 9,000 officers and staff. Some are put off joining because it signifies that the embattled and scandal-hit Met technically becomes their employer.
A report in December by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary outlined the response to the disorder in England and suggested establishing a national coordinator role with the controls to order police heads to hand over riot-trained officials to be deployed around the country if riots cause a national emergency.
A second report is upcoming and is anticipated to be similarly critical, with some police sources privately expressing that local forces were too slow in transferring their riot officers to the national level effort.
According to a spokesperson for the NPCC,
“The ambition for police reform is high. We want the establishment of the national centre for policing to be the start of changes to improvement to policing capabilities. Still, it is too early to say what any future design could be.”
There are downsides to greater centralisation, including local forces losing control over their needs and more government interference. Leaders of the British counterterrorism effort efforts It is claim that the model excels due to its connection to local policing, with local officers gathering intelligence and sharing it with specialists. So, they say the counter-terrorism system works.
A Home Office source stated:
“We’re working with policing, which will focus on efficiencies, tech and the use of, and enhancing capabilities on local and national scales. We will always look at what works.”
