Policy and Reform             

Policing policy is simply vast. The professional delivery of policing services requires adherence to police regulations, standards and statute. These areas of official service policy (see Policing Service links) are supplemented by the professional policy guidances produced by  organisations such as the Association of Chief Police Officers.

The police reform agenda falls into:

The police reform debate is on- going and all major UK political parties continue to prioritise policing reform issues within their development programmes.

The English and Welsh Police National Intelligence Model (NIM) is a business model used by the police service, and increasingly by other partners, to ensure that policing is delivered in a targeted way through the development of information and intelligence. It is used to prioritise issues and allocate resources to deal with them. The aim of the developers of the model is that NIM should be applicable to all aspects of operational policing.

NIM is based on proactive policing which involves identifying, understanding and addressing underlying problems and trends. This broader perspective allows for prioritisation of police activity which makes it easier to respond to the increasing demands placed on the Police Service. Elements of NIM, however, may be used in reactive investigations, for example, to direct resources and establish a full picture of an issue under investigation.

Practice policy related to community and neighbourhood policing is dealt with in more on the Community / Neighbourhood Policing sub page of this site.

In March 2007 Sir Ronnie Flanagan, the Home Secretary's senior professional advisor on policing, was requested to undertake a review of key areas of policing. The review will examine four areas and will ultimately make focused recommendations on:

1.   How to reduce bureaucracy and promote better business processes 

2.   How to sustain and improve progress that has been made on neighbourhood policing

3.   How to ensure to improve local involvement and accountability in policing

4.   How the police service can manage its resources effectively to meet the tough challenges ahead

In September 2007 he presented his interim findings (The Review of Policing: Interim Report) to the Home Secretary today. In our opinion the Interim Report was ground breaking and gave every reason to think that the final report would be positively revolutionary; it is not.ur areas.

The full report Review of Policing (Flanagan Review) contains a series of final recommendations to improve policing. However, local accountability recommendations were not included (although models of local accountability were identified) and are now expected to be announced in the Government Green Paper on policing due to be published in Spring 2008. 

The government response (9 April 2008) to the report was positive (Response by the Home Secretary to Sir Ronnie Flanagan’s Review of Policing Final Report) but much will now depend on primary legislation - impending Green Paper - or practical responses by the key agencies (Police Services and Police Authorities).

The Policing Green Paper is due for publication in June2008. It will set out proposals in the following key areas:

1. Local accountability – aiming to improve arrangements at both the very local and the strategic/force level;

2. Performance management – with a focus on delivering greater clarity about the roles and relationships of the key partners;

3. Leadership – ‘both about getting the best from those in the policing family and ensuring we can attract the very best applicants’;

4. Workforce – recognising the contribution made by the office of the constable and ensuring that warranted officers are free to do those jobs which they can do, ‘supported by the effective use of civilians roles’;

5. Subsidiarity – developing a clearer model for which decisions should be taken at which level;

6. Collaboration – in terms of protective services and where collaboration can deliver efficiency and productivity gains;

7. Customer service – plans for a policing pledge focused on delivering a clear commitment to the public about what they can expect from their police service;

8. Bureaucracy – building on the recommendations from Sir Ronnie Flanagan’s Final Report and exploring options for going further;

9. Processes – highlighting the importance of the efficiency and productivity strategy published in February, building on the successes of Operation QUEST and incorporating the National Police Improvement Agency (NPIA) Review of Police IT;

10. Counter-terrorism policing – recognizing the importance of incorporating this work into mainstream policing.

The formal consultation process will begin once the Green Paper is published.

Links to Key Policing Legislation and Related Statutory Instruments

Below are the most recent English and Welsh laws related to policing. Further laws and technical references can be found within the specialist agency links on this page and within the 'Policing' pages on this site.

Police Act 1996 (c. 16)         Police Reform Act 2002 (c. 30)

Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 (c. 15)    Police and Justice Act 2006 (c. 48) 

The Police Authorities (Particular Functions and Transitional Provisions) Order 2008

_______________________________________________________________________________