Tightening the Police Belt

The way we have organised a police system in the U.K mainland is financially daft, with every county or city having its own dedicated and independent force to do everything. In Northern Ireland there is one police service for the whole province, which is better, though direct comparison is difficult because of special circumstances.

What is needed for England (replicated in Wales and Scotland) is three national police forces divided as follows; a Community Police Service charged with crime prevention and law enforcement, a National Detective Service to solve crimes committed, and a Traffic Police responsible for all road discipline and crime. It is idiotic for these to be organised county by county although every local authority should have a cabinet member responsible for law and order with close links to the police commanders operating locally. Just as the Army divides the country up into Military Districts, so the police can do the same while remaining, like the Army, national institutions. 

The police policy of successive governments has failed to balance local need and national priorities, preventing crime and solving crime, on the beat and in the office, hands on and paper pushing, targets and results. We have all noticed indifference to our reports of a minor theft or burglary (apart from offers of trauma counselling) yet watch a huge and immediate concentration from far and wide of both police vehicles and personnel for a moderate traffic accident.

The coalition needs to up its game here. This is not a target cancelling, money saving, tidy up, efficiency project. It is a root and branch affair or it is useless.