From local to national
Yesterday afternoon (26 January 2026), the Government finally published its policing white paper. ‘From local to national: a new model for policing’ which sets out a comprehensive package of reforms to policing. The white paper focuses on four main objectives which are quoted in full below. The white paper commits the Government to creating a police service which is:
- more rooted in local communities and focused on their needs,
- more coherent in the way it is organised,
- more consistent in achieving high standards, and
- more capable in terms of its workforce, technology, use of data and ability to prevent crime.
Alongside the white paper the Government is launching a new police performance framework which aims to provide a clear set of enduring expectations for policing to support analysis of performance across the breadth of crime and policing activity.
This white paper has its roots in the its Strategic Review of Policing in England and Wales undertaken by the Police Foundation and published in three parts in 2021-2022.
I provide a brief overview of these four main objectives in the section below.
Better local policing
The white paper commits to “re-energise” neighbourhood policing, by delivering 13,000 more officers into neighbourhood roles. It aims to modernise the service by reducing bureaucracy, clarify the line between freedom of speech and criminality and roll out AI powered tools and software to automate manual processes, saving police time that can be “redirected towards serving the public”.
The white paper also promises big changes to police governance, abolishing PCCs, replacing them with directly elected mayors, and where mayors do not yet exist, with Policing and Crime Boards made up of local council leaders.
A stronger policing system
The number of police forces will be substantially reduced; the white paper doesn’t give a definitive number but 12 is the number which crops up regularly in media coverage. The details are to be determined by (another) review which will report this summer. The Government says it will deal with the apparent conflict between more neighbourhood policing but larger regional police forces by creating new Local Police Areas within each of the new forces.
In addition to these new regional forces, the government will create a new National Police Service (NPS) which
“will bring together existing national bodies, including the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), the College of Policing, the National Crime Agency (NCA) and Counter Terrorism Policing (CTP), into a single organisation with a clear mandate and the powers to get things done.”
The press has taken to describing this new NPS as a sort of British FBI. These fundamental changes will result in an overhaul of the police funding formula, always a tricky political undertaking.
High standards
The white paper says it will raise performance and standards by establishing a set of national policing guarantees, showing the public what they can expect from the police force no matter where they live, underpinned by “a small number of targets” to ensure that the police deliver a consistent level of service.
Modernisation
The white paper goes into some detail about how it will modernise the police service including:
- Getting more officers in the community
- Recruiting more specialised staff to tackle modern challenges
- Introducing a Licence to Practise for police officers, “renewing the office of constable for the 21st century”.
- Developing a new workforce strategy (which includes a another review, this time of police leadership)
- Equipping police officers with modern data and technology, including expanding live facial recognition.
- Strengthening the focus on crime prevention.
It is perhaps ironic that Shabana Mahmood’s careful communication campaign which led up to the publication of the White Paper and which has been running for the last 10 days or so was partly usurped at the last moment by the news of one of her predecessors as Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, changing political parties.
