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      Journal of Global Faultlines is published by Pluto Journals, an Open Access publisher. This means that everyone has free and unlimited access to the full-text of all articles from our international collection of social science journals. Furthermore Pluto Journals authors don’t pay article processing charges (APCs).

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      Journal of Global Faultlines

      Volume 8, Issue 1
       
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      Has the COVID-19 pandemic manoeuvred policing in England and Wales towards a single national police organisation?

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      Journal: Journal of Global Faultlines
      Publisher: Pluto Journals
      Keywords: policing, pandemic, national coordination, reform
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            Abstract

            In 2005, Her Majesty's Inspector of Constabularies, Sir Denis O'Connor, reported that structural change to the existing system of 43 forces in England and Wales was necessary, not just desirable (HMIC, 2005). He stated, “Re-configuring for better protection of, and connection with, the public, needs to be seen as part of a package of police reform for this century” (HMIC, 2005, p. 12). He was referring to the merging of smaller forces to make them “fit for purpose”. In 2006, following the recommendations of the report, Home Secretary Charles Clarke took steps to begin a process of merging forces to drive efficiency and effectiveness in protective security. This strategic approach would have seen the number of forces reduced from 43 to 17, but it encountered significant opposition from many of the existing Police Authorities, sufficient to stop it happening (BBC, 2006). In 2011, the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 replaced existing Police Authorities with the current system of elected Police and Crime Commissioners (PCC), which enabled leadership, local priority setting and operational management of police, as well as new partnerships within many force areas. It also led to Home Office direction being largely limited to the Strategic Policing Requirement (SPR). As the 43-force structure continues, a collaborative approach is ever more necessary, and efforts have been focused on sharing specialist capabilities across forces (Regional Organised Crime Units being one such example). But is this sufficient for policing to keep apace of the changes threatening the safety and security of the public? The COVID-19 pandemic has shone a light on the operational effectiveness of the 43-force structure. This paper will examine the challenge to a system, which the House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee (HASC) called “broken” in 2018 (HASC, 2018), through the lens of the COVID-19 pandemic, and discuss whether the public health crisis has accelerated the drive towards further policing reforms and even a national police organisation. The question will be considered within the context of national coordination arising from the pandemic, the impact on police legitimacy and lessons learnt from the unified policing models introduced in Scotland and the Netherlands in 2013.

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            Author and article information

            Contributors
            Karen Duckworth
            Journal
            Journal ID (doi): 10.2307/j50018794
            Journal ID (jcode): jglobfaul
            Title: Journal of Global Faultlines
            Publisher: Pluto Journals
            ISSN: 2397-7825
            ISSN: 2054-2089
            Publication date (Print): 1 May 2021
            Volume: 8
            Issue: 1 ( doiID: 10.13169/jglobfaul.8.issue-1 )
            Pages: 114-130
            Affiliations
            Karen Duckworth has 32 years of experience of policing London. As Police Operations Lead at Richmond-Upon-Thames Borough, she had responsibility for the review and implementation of policing plans for all events at the Rugby Football Union (RFU) stadium (Twickenham). She worked closely with RFU and other strategic partners to use new legislation reviewing outcomes for training and learning delivery. She performed the role of Silver match commander at RFU events and was key in planning and delivering the local response to the London 2012 Olympic cycling events being held in West London. karen.duckworth@ 123456lonpolcol.co.uk
            Article
            Publisher ID: jglobfaul.8.1.0114
            DOI: 10.13169/jglobfaul.8.1.0114
            SO-VID: ca1a5461-0221-449c-b155-0b1fea6452cc
            Copyright © This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
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            All content is freely available without charge to users or their institutions. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission of the publisher or the author. Articles published in the journal are distributed under a http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

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            Custom metadata
            lang eng

            ScienceOpen disciplines: Social & Behavioral Sciences
            Keywords: policing,pandemic,reform,national coordination

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