London, Jan 25 (PTI) A new National Police Service made up of “world class talent” will be created to take over counter-terrorism, fraud and other serious gang violence investigations in the UK, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said on Sunday.
The National Police Service (NPS), modelled on the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the US, will be equipped with state-of-the-art technology to track down and catch dangerous criminals. The new nationwide force will bring the work of existing agencies, such as the National Crime Agency (NCA) and regional organised crime units, under one umbrella.
“The current policing model was built for a different century; some local forces lack the skills or resources they need to fight complex modern crime such as fraud, online child abuse or organised criminal gangs,” said Mahmood, who will table the proposals in Parliament on Monday.
“We will create a new National Police Service – dubbed ‘the British FBI’ – deploying world-class talent and state-of-the-art technology to track down and catch dangerous criminals. In doing so, local forces will be able to spend more time fighting crime in their communities,” she said.
The NPS will cover England and Wales but be able to operate in the wider United Kingdom including devolved Scotland, setting national standards and training. It will be led by a national Police Commissioner, who will become the most senior police chief in the country.
The announcement forms part of wider police reforms unveiled by the UK Home Office, including a reduction in the overall number of police forces in England and Wales, with some merged to create bigger regional constabularies tackling complex crimes, such as murder, drugs and county lines gangs.
Meanwhile, counter-terror policing currently led by the Metropolitan Police, the National Air Service run by West Yorkshire Police and National Roads Policing will all be brought under the new NPS.
Intelligence and resources will be shared across different forces in stages to ensure the public receive the same level of security no matter where they live, the Home Office said.
In a joint article in ‘The Telegraph’, the heads of the NCA, Met Police, counter-terrorism, National Police Chiefs’ Council and College of Policing backed the new national force to replace the “outdated” 43-force model in the face of growing complexity of organised crime.
They wrote: “Criminals do not respect local boundaries or national borders – yet too often our policing structures still do. The system [our officers] operate within is too messy and too complicated. Expertise is locked away in silos.
“Technology systems do not speak to each other and front-line officers have to wade through complexity or battle with bureaucracy rather than focusing on protecting communities.” The Opposition Tories said the changes must not come at the expense of local and community policing.
“Labour wants to force through mega-forces after stripping 1,316 officers from the front line. More top-down reorganisation risks undermining efforts to catch criminals and it delivers no real improvement on the ground,” said Chris Philp, shadow home secretary. PTI AK NPK NPK
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