Police chief vows to protect local policing

The Humberside Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) has said policing should remain at a "local level" after the government announced reforms.

In a white paper announced on Monday, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood laid out how the government would fix the "broken" policing system by merging forces and creating a National Police Service (NPS).

PCC Jonathan Evison welcomed the announcement but said he had not "waited for a white paper to tell us to prioritise our residents".

He said he would "continue to advocate" for residents and ensure "that reforms enhance - not diminish - the quality, responsiveness, and accountability of policing at the local level".

Mahmood said the shake-up and creation of the NPS would fight the most complex cross-border crime and could also see the number of local forces in England and Wales cut by about two-thirds.

She told the House of Commons she intends to make better use of technology - including the "largest ever rollout of facial recognition".

Evison said Humberside Police had "reached its highest officer numbers since 2008" under his governance.

He said: "We have built a high-performing force that is the envy of many.

"The expertise we have gained in managing this growth is directly transferable to a national model, but it must not come at the cost of local accountability."

He also challenged the "league-table style measures" proposed, and said Humberside's success was rooted in "doing the right thing rather than chasing arbitrary benchmarks".

The proposed NPS will bring together the existing National Crime Agency and Counter Terrorism Policing, as well as taking in some functions currently carried out by the National Police Chiefs' Council, the National Police Air Service and the College of Policing.

On the merging of police forces, the Home Office said the precise number and nature of each force would be the subject of a review that will report back to Mahmood in the summer.

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