A major topic at the Police Superintendents’ Association (PSA) Annual Conference was the proposed wide-reaching police reforms in England and Wales, linked to the 2025 Crime and Policing Bill.
Reform is something that we’ve got a huge amount of experience of in Scotland, as we brought 10 policing agencies together to form Police Scotland. We’re now coming up to 13 years of Police Scotland, and there are definitely lessons to be learned.
At the conference, we heard positive words about the necessity to look at wider police reform from Gavin Stephens, Chair of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, and Sir Andy Marsh, CEO of the College of Policing. But I can’t help reflecting that, in a system that has not just 43 Chief Constables but also 41 Police and Crime Commissioners, the reality of bringing reform in England and Wales is potentially further from happening now than it’s ever been.
It is going to be really difficult without a huge political will – and I mean political with a small ‘p’ – as it needs to come from within and without policing. I think many people fail to recognise the sheer act of will that it took to create Police Scotland, where many Chief Constables said it wouldn’t work and it wouldn’t happen. That’s probably where policing in England and Wales is at the moment – despite there being this tantalising fruit of what might be available through reform, if you’re a Chief Constable or PCC of a small force, are you going to be the turkey lining up to vote for Christmas?
This did happen in Scotland, but it hasn’t all been plain sailing. I would warn people to be careful of the unintended consequences. The biggest issue for our association is that we have seen a slow removal of superintending ranks. The breadth and depth of responsibility that our remaining members have is greater now than it’s ever been, to the point where we are barely coping as a cohort with some of the challenges that are set in our way.
Forces in England and Wales need to be really clear about this, because when the Government says you need to make savings, it’s really easy to get rid of more senior officers and keep relatively cheap PCs to keep your numbers up. But there is a red line beyond which you just can’t operate, and we flirt with that red line on a day-to-day basis in Police Scotland.