Crime commissioner shares views on wide-scale reforms being proposed by UK Labour

Richard Youle Local Democracy Reporter

Dyfed-Powys’ police and crime commissioner said he backed some of the wide-scale policing reforms proposed by the UK Government which seek to slash the number of forces in England and Wales.

Dafydd Llywelyn said he welcomed the white paper’s focus on policing rooted in local communities supported by a new National Police Service, and crime prevention.

Mr Llywelyn said: “I think it would be very difficult to to find people involved in policing who would not agree with those sentiments.”

But he wondered how local policing areas would be defined if the current 43 police forces in England and Wales were cut to “maybe 10 or 12”, and how large these forces would be.

Mr Llywelyn, who has been elected Dyfed-Powys’ police and crime commissioner three times, was speaking at a meeting of the region’s police and crime panel. The UK Labour Government plans to scrap commissioners after 2028 and the panels which scrutinise their work.

Plaid Cymru commissioner Mr Llywelyn said there were many variables surrounding the Government’s white paper, entitled From Local to National: A New Model for Policing, and its context in Wales.

He wondered how funding for the proposed National Police Service – designed to fight the most serious and complex crimes – would affect the precept that taxpayers paid directly to fund their local force. Just over half the funding for Dyfed-Powys Police is via the precept, which is shown on people’s council tax bills.

Mr Llywelyn also said he felt there was “so much turmoil” politically in Westminster and questioned how many of the proposed reforms could be brought in during the next Parliament let alone the current one.

He said he would be setting out his views in writing to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, and told the panel he would do everything he could to ensure Dyfed Powys residents were well represented in discussions. He said he hoped residents would even get a better police service than they did now although he added: “I would say that Dyfed-Powys Police does provide a very good service to the public.”

The UK Government is to launch a review into reducing the number of police forces in England and Wales in a bid to cut costs and provide a better overall service to the public. The white paper policy document sets out new ministerial powers to intervene in failing forces and sack failing chief constables.

Ms Mahmood has described the planned reforms, which would need to be passed by Parliament in a bill to become law, as representing “the most significant changes to policing in this country in nearly 200 years”.

The Policing Federation, which represents officers from the rank of constable to chief inspector, has said that fewer forces didn’t guarantee more or better policing for communities.

Welsh Labour and Plaid Cymru have called for policing and justice to be devolved to Wales.