PapersOrder
Restoring British Policing
A Police Restoration Act would put the Office of Constable back at the centre and strip out what the paper calls political doctrine.
The argument
The paper, published as Restoring British Policing, says the trouble with policing in England and Wales is not mainly numbers or funding. It is structure, culture and principle. It treats the Police Reform Act 2002 as the moment external bodies, political pressure and what it calls ideological doctrine got inside the service and weakened the independent legal status of the constable.
The centrepiece is a Police Restoration Act. Alongside it, the party wants one standard of enforcement for every person, local scrutiny that cannot direct operations, and core functions — intelligence, custody, forensics, investigation — pulled back into police ownership.
Training and intelligence institutions would be rebuilt: a National Police College, regional colleges, and the return of a National Criminal Intelligence Service.
What they propose
- 1
Pass a Police Restoration Act restoring the Office of Constable and its independence from political direction.
- 2
Undo the influences the paper traces to the Police Reform Act 2002.
- 3
Remove identity-specific and politically influenced policing doctrine.
- 4
A single Equality Before the Law and Impartial Policing Standard: the same enforcement threshold for every person.
- 5
Police Accountability Boards for democratic scrutiny, without operational control by politicians, councils or campaigns.
- 6
Return intelligence, custody, forensics and investigation to the police as core functions.
- 7
Rebuild a National Police College and regional training colleges.
- 8
Restore the National Criminal Intelligence Service.
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