Uniform styles? Aspects of police centralization in England and Wales

Abstract

Since the early 1990s, central monitoring of police performance in England and Wales has grown markedly, in particular through national performance indicators introduced by the Police and Magistrates Courts Act 1994. The process has been accompanied by increased level of intervention by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and the Audit Commission. This article uses published Inspectorate reports to assess the extent to which police forces now use common policing styles, and traces in more detail the influences leading to the adoption (or otherwise) of "intelligence-led" policing in selected forces. It is argued that in order to reduce recorded crime rates, the police are increasingly using structures and methods that are "approved" by Government and its agencies, but in a marked absence of information as to their probable effectiveness and efficiency in achieving the desired results. Furthermore, it is suggested that recent political developments have added decisive weight to the centralization process. Some forces are now attempting to combine "approved" policing styles into an integrated model, though it is unclear whether this can be achieved in practice without losing the perceived advantages of each style.