Hertfordshire PCC blasts police force merger plan as threat to local policing

Hertfordshire's police and crime commissioner, Ash-Edwards, has come out swinging against plans to streamline police forces in England and Wales. She said there is 'no evidence' that creating large regional forces improves the fight against crime, pointing to independent data showing smaller county forces like Hertfordshire solve the most crime and are most trusted by the public. Regional forces would be distant from the public, with decisions made further away by people who don't know the communities they serve, she added, warning that rural areas and smaller towns will inevitably lose out. She called for sensible modernisation and investment instead of a top-down, expensive reorganisation that diverts resources from the front line.

The shake-up, proposed by Rowley, would reduce the number of forces to 8-10, underpinned by hundreds of local policing commands and a new national force. It would replace the current county-based structure with three tiers: local teams handling neighbourhood issues, regional forces sharing specialist resources, and a National Police Service tackling the most serious crimes. In January, the home secretary published a white paper and asked former Metropolitan Police Commissioner Lord Hogan-Howe to examine what the force boundaries might be.

Bedfordshire PCC Tizard, whose role along with other PCCs will be abolished in May 2028, offered a more measured response. He said policing needs a model fit for the modern world that strengthens local policing units, including community policing, response policing, CID functions, safeguarding, prevention and partnership with local authorities. He compared the proposed larger services to existing collaborations between Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire.

Those forces already share several units, including Major Crime, Road Policing, Dog, Scientific Services and Armed Policing. Each region also has a special operations unit working across county boundaries to tackle terrorism and serious organised crime. The Eastern Region SOU includes more than 850 police officers and staff, covering Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent, Norfolk and Suffolk, while Thames Valley is part of the South-East SOU.

Tizard added that larger police services should be subject to democratic accountability, with local policing units forming part of them under local commanders and a chief constable. He said he recognises the need for mergers but would prefer a footprint such as Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire rather than a larger, more remote geographical base. The government has never said how many police forces it wants after the reforms become law. A Home Office spokesperson said the current model of policing has not changed since the 1960s and is no longer fit for purpose.