Policing in Wales

Britain is possibly unique among larger countries, in that it has primarily only one tier of policing, run on a county or regional basis, and who are responsible for everything from parking enforcement to anti-terrorism.

Most countries have a series of police forces with different responsibilities and different accountabilities – take USA as one example where the FBI, State Police, City Police Departments all have separate roles. Similary in France where the Gendamerie, National and Municipal Police all operate and report differently.

Maybe this is something that would work better in Wales – there a was a move last year to establish a national police force for sound operational reasons, but which would have seen the loss of local accountability. The public often complain about the lack of local policing while watching the testosterone fuelled BMWs screaming down the M4.

So I suggest that we should develop an all-Wales force, with responsibility for national issues and major crimes, reporting to and funded directly by the Assembly (or its eventual successor); and supplemented by a series of county forces with responsibility for local policing and directly accountable to local councils. (Although I suggest that we should rationalise our county structure first though, reducing to 10 – 15 council areas.)

Some work would be needed to be done to resolve coordination and jurisdiction issues, but nothing insurmountable.