‘British FBI’ to tackle national crime in major police overhaul

Counter-terror, fraud and criminal gang investigations are set to be taken over by a new national police force dubbed the “British FBI” under major policing reforms.

The National Police Service (NPS) will crack down on serious and complex crimes, bringing the work of existing agencies such as the National Crime Agency (NCA) and regional organised crime units under the same organisation.

Counter Terror Policing, the National Police Air Service and National Roads Policing will all also be merged into the new NPS.

It is hoped the new NPS will lift the burden on local forces, which the Home Office believes are diverting resources away from tackling day-to-day crimes to deal with national policing issues.

The move forms part of a radical overhaul of policing in England and Wales set to be unveiled on Monday by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, who said the current model was “built for a different century”.

Arguing some forces lacked the “skills or resources they need to fight complex modern crime”, she said the NPS would allow local police “to spend more time fighting crime in their communities”.

The NPS will be headed up by a National Police Commissioner who will become the most senior police chief in the country.

The Metropolitan Police, Counter-Terror Police and the National Police Chiefs’ Council all welcomed the creation of a single national service.

But they added the transition “must be delivered with care”, and its success depended on “maintaining strong connections with local policing”.

Other backers of the plan included Graeme Biggar, the head of the National Crime Agency, who said the current system was “out of date” and called for “a single, stronger national law enforcement body”.

The creation of the NPS will also see the appointment of a new national public order commander, responsible for dealing with incidents of major national disorder.

Coming in response to the 2024 riots, Home Office sources said a national response was needed against a background of rising community tensions and increasingly complex, widespread incidents.

Ms Mahmood has also announced a new national forensics service, intended to save money and clear a significant backlog of 20,000 digital devices awaiting examination, and a series of regional crime hubs to tackle offences such as drug supply, serious fraud and child sexual abuse.

Once up and running, the NPS will set standards and training for policing and buy new technology such as facial recognition on behalf of all police forces.

Moving procurement to a single national police force rather than 43 separate ones is expected to save £350 million by the next election.

The Home Office pointed to significant savings from procuring officers’ trousers through a national framework, and said some forces were paying more to embroider uniform shirts than they were for the shirts themselves.

The announcement of the NPS comes alongside other policies expected in Monday’s policing white paper, including slashing the number of police forces in England and Wales, abolishing police and crime commissioners and changes to how police officers are recruited and managed.

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said the changes “must not come at the expense of local and community policing”.

He said: “More top-down reorganisation risks undermining efforts to catch criminals and it delivers no real improvement on the ground.”