ABSTRACT

The United Kingdom has no national police force. Instead, the police are organised on a basis which links them to the locality. In England and Wales, there now exist 43 police forces: the City of London Police, the Metropolitan Police and 41 forces outside London. Scotland has six forces and Northern Ireland one. The Police Act 1996 provides that the Home Secretary may alter police areas ‘in the interest of efficiency or effectiveness’.2 In 1962, a Royal Commission examined the question whether there should be a national police force under central government control, but concluded that the status quo should be maintained, subject to supervision by central government.3 The regulation of the police represents a tri-partite arrangement involving the Secretary of State for the Home Department (the Home Secretary), local police authorities and Chief Constables of Police.