In a significant move to tackle crime, the British government has announced a £7 million investment to recruit the “best and brightest” graduates from universities into neighbourhood policing roles across England and Wales. This forms part of a sweeping overhaul of the policing system, which is set to be unveiled next week.
Policing Minister Sarah Jones has emphasised the urgent need to attract high-calibre individuals to join police forces and step up the fight against criminal activity that has long plagued communities. “For too long, criminals have run riot in our communities with no punishment,” she told The Mirror. “We must attract the brightest and best to join police forces so we can intensify the crackdown on crime.”
Under the new initiative, 280 of these graduate officers will be hired by March, with half of them focusing specifically on tackling anti-social behaviour – an issue that has blighted the lives of millions for years. This comes on top of an additional 2,400 neighbourhood officers that have been brought into policing roles in the past six months, as the government works towards its goal of having 13,000 such officers in place by the end of the current Parliament in 2029.
Alongside the recruitment drive, the government is also set to unveil a raft of wider reforms to the policing system, which have been described as the “largest since the police service was founded two centuries ago.” These changes will grant the Home Secretary greater powers, including the ability to sack chief constables.
There will also be a push for increased accountability, with each police force required to publish an online dashboard detailing their performance on key priorities such as emergency response times, neighbourhood team sizes and crime-solving rates. “The police are the public, and the public are the police,” said Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood. “It is essential that the people can determine what they expect from their force.”
Experts have called for Mahmood to be bold in her reform proposals, with the Tony Blair Institute recommending the creation of a single UK-wide police force focused on organised crime, cybercrime and terrorism. The think tank also urged the introduction of a national digital forensics agency and country-wide facial recognition technology.
While the government’s plans have been broadly welcomed, there are concerns around the lack of powers currently available to remove underperforming chief constables. Mahmood faced frustration earlier this month when she was unable to dismiss the head of West Midlands Police, despite expressing a lack of confidence in his leadership. This issue is expected to be addressed as part of the upcoming white paper.
