ABSTRACT
Policing in the twenty-first century, although overwhelmingly characterized (as Paul Evans informs us in the introduction to his chapter) by complexity, globalisation and new forms of terrorist threats, one of its greatest challenges today is that of uncertainty. This uncertainty has been partly generated by the coalition government’s drive to reduce police numbers and make them more efficient by reducing their budget by 20 per cent over the next four years, and also by the consequences of the Hutton (2011), Winsor I and II (2012a, b) and Neyroud (2011) reports as well as the introduction of Police and Crime Commissioners. These factors collectively make it difficult to ascertain what the police service will look like, let alone be expected to deliver, in the foreseeable future. This was eloquently summed up by Sir Hugh Orde at the Leading Change in Policing conference on 4 July 2011:
We are determined to preserve the service to the public. But as the service of last resort, we are going through a period of substantial change. Changes to accountability, changes to central structures and changes to pay and conditions. Change which, if mismanaged, could threaten the impartial model of policing that has existed for 180 years and is revered across the world.”
