Mark Brown

This wins the internet today.

🚨Police and Crime Commissioner Philip Seccombe has ended the recruitment process and withdrawn Emma Bond MBE’s preferred candidate status for the role of Chief Constable. What do you think this means for the future leadership of Warwickshire Police? 🔗policeoracle.com/article-lib…

Police reform is long overdue. We need a model for policing that is fit for the modern world and ensures that police services can make our communities safer. This must include mergers and greater collaboration between police services. It must strengthen local policing units.

Police chiefs are at war over @ShabanaMahmood plans which could slash the number of forces in England and Wales from 43 to as few as nine @LabourSJ @CPhilpOfficial @Sidwick4Dorset @PCCKent @emilyspurrell @JAshEdwards @KatyBourne @metpoliceuk @PoliceInspForum @AssocPCCs @PFEW_HQ @PoliceChiefs @DannyShawNews telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/11…

In the wake of the recent Police Leadership Commission report, Professor Emma Williams, Director of the Centre of Excellence for Equity in Uniformed Public Services at Anglia Ruskin University, argues that it’s time policing shifted its leadership focus from “How many?” to “How well?”, through changes in culture, how leaders are chosen and supported, how they portray the leadership styles that policing needs, and how leadership performance is measured. policinginsight.com/feature/… @AngliaRuskin

In the last in this series of articles on UK police workforce development, Policing Insight’s Ian Wiggett looks at the continuing churn of officer numbers driven by high rates of attrition, and explores what impact this could have on the potential structural reform of policing in England and Wales if the proposed National Police Service draws in the most experienced officers from local forces. [SUBSCRIBER ARTICLE] policinginsight.com/feature/… 💡Read more articles in the 'UK police workforce development' series: policinginsight.com/series/u… @Wiggett_IE

Last week, I spent some time with @metpoliceuk Response Officers. The first call interrupted the end of their briefing. 2PM when most are finishing lunch breaks, these police officers were running to someone with serious injuries. So serious, @LDNairamb was on its way too.

❝It’s taken 16 years to recover, but the police budget in England and Wales is now finally above 2010 levels in real terms. Despite this extra money, forces are still having to make cuts. The total workforce has dropped by nearly 4% since 2024, with 1,860 fewer police officers, driven mainly by large cuts in the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS). Outside London, most forces have either grown or maintained officer numbers since 2024. The majority of forces are still smaller overall than 16 years ago. A redistribution of funding since 2010 has taken forces along different resourcing trajectories. It’s the unspoken element in the ‘postcode lottery’ argument around police restructure – alongside some real concerns about forces’ financial resilience. The UK Government has recently had to make one-off payments to forces to cover budget gaps. It is allowing forces more flexibility with their workforce numbers and has acknowledged the need for a new funding formula. However, this will only come once restructuring is ‘underway’. At the same time, more of the budget is being ‘top-sliced’ for large projects or restricted to specific purposes – including moving 13,000 officers and police community support officers into neighbourhood policing. Overall resources in forces will continue to be squeezed, and the pressure will continue to be felt differently. Funding for policing in England and Wales is due to total £21.19 billion this year. In real terms (adjusted for inflation), that is an increase of 4.4% on last year. It is almost a quarter higher than in 2015/6. The total includes money raised from the council tax precept. Forces are increasingly reliant on local taxation, which has risen from 25% of the policing budget in 2015 to over 30% now. Some forces have been able to increase precept income more than others, further distorting the way the budget is distributed. More is being ‘top-sliced’ out of the control of forces, to cover national functions and specific initiatives such as county lines and violence reduction. The top-slice has risen from 15% in 2015 to around 18% (although this now includes funding for the neighbourhood policing increase). Again, some forces benefit more than others. Meanwhile, the proportion of core grant – the basic allocation to forces by the Home Office through the funding formula – has dropped from 59% to 48%. This total includes funds allocated by the Welsh Government to the four Welsh forces. Significantly, nearly £1billion will be allocated this year to police technology programmes, the costs of which continue to balloon while delivery dates keep being pushed back.❞ Chart shows Police Funding England and Wales 2015/6 to 2026/7 (real terms). For more analysis and charts from Policing Insight's Ian Wiggett read the full article 'The 2026 UK police workforce: Funding, fairness, demand and need' [SUBSCRIBER ARTICLE] policinginsight.com/feature/… @Wiggett_IE

👮‍♂️🚔🚨A bigger police force does not make for better service “It is my hope Members of Parliament & the Lords, irrespective of political party will put a stop to this – & help deliver the real reform policing needs. Of all the issues that policing is facing right now, I am quite astonished this is the priority.” – Festus Akinbusoye, Former Bedfordshire PCC & Mayor for London Candidate policepromotion.blog/2025/12…

Today marks the 195th anniversary of Special Constables. Specials are vital volunteers in our police force helping to keep the public safe, and we're always looking for more. I thank those past and present, and encourage others to consider joining.

NEW Will it be 10? 15? Or 20? @ukhomeoffice has received Lord Hogan-Howe's report on police mergers... Ex-@metpoliceuk commissioner tasked with recommending "optimum size & configuration of police forces" in Eng/Wales... My thoughts on what follows: instituteforgovernment.org.u…

Police resources in England and Wales have been on a bumpy ride over the past 30 years. From a low point of 178,000 in 2000, the total workforce soared to a peak of nearly 245,000 in 2010. Numbers then dropped sharply to under 199,000 in 2017, before a partial recovery to nearly 236,600 in 2024. In the past two years, numbers have drifted downwards again. The workforce now totals just over 234,400. Police officer numbers have tracked those ups and downs. After a 2009 peak of nearly 143,800, by the end of Theresa May’s premiership in 2018, England and Wales had fewer officers than in 1998. Boris Johnson’s Uplift Programme directed funding into a major recruitment drive, and officer numbers soared to a record peak of over 147,700 in 2024. That level has been difficult to maintain, both financially and in terms of recruitment and retention. The number of officers has now slipped under 145,900. 📈Chart shows Total England & Wales police workforce 1996 to 2026 (FTE at financial year end) - source Police Workforce England and Wales Statistics, UK Home Office Read more analysis in the article from Policing Insight's Ian Wiggett: [SUBSCRIBER ARTICLE] policinginsight.com/feature/… 💡 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 '𝐔𝐊 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭' 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬. From austerity cuts to recruitment boosts and subsequent spikes in early service leavers, police officer numbers in England and Wales over the past decade have been a focus of concern. In this series launched in 2020, Ian Wiggett maps police workforce development in England and Wales since 2010, identifying major trends and significant challenges. In 2026 the series has been expanded to include police workforce statistics for Scotland and Northern Ireland. policinginsight.com/series/u… @Wiggett_IE @ukhomeoffice

Today we published our latest PEEL inspection for @Glos_Police. We found that the constabulary’s performance has declined in many areas since its last inspection, including how it is managed, how it protects vulnerable people and how well it investigates crime.