Local Accountability v National Collaboration

From a personal perspective, I will admit that I struggle to see how the Policing in the 21^st Century agenda will result in anything less than short to medium term confusion and may cause individual forces to reassess decisions made under the previous regime.

Having never been the greatest fan of the NPIA, I can’t express any concern on my part over its imminent demise. However when this is held against the additional reform measures, the question has to be asked “is this too much too soon”?

Forces in England and Wales have, on the whole, fallen in line with NPIA ISIS Programme and have structured their ICT replacement strategies accordingly. The obvious example is the Eastern Region Forces participation in Project Athena which sees unprecedented collaboration in the intended procurement of core policing systems. I have never questioned the appropriateness of this activity but do wonder if, given the local pressures, this would have happened anyway with or without NPIA involvement. Regardless, it is fair to say that the current financial situation and planned regulatory changes make for an environment which is very different from that which existed when the Athena collaboration was born.

Forces are bracing themselves for unprecedented cuts in their budgets and this, coupled with the Government strategy of local accountability, will inevitably give rise to questions as to whether the imperatives of the local situation will allow for participation in national initiatives.

Whilst acknowledging that the new locally elected Police and Crime Commissioners will receive Government guidance on the importance of national collaboration, such initiatives will be viewed against the uncertainty of how the role previously undertaken by the NPIA will now be delivered. This, in turn, may create an expectation that the introduction of a new body is likely to bring further adjustments to national strategy. The result could well be further confusion and delay.

Albeit I consider the issues discussed to be relevant, I of course accept that this analysis of the situation may prove to have been overly negative when the full impact of the recent Government announcement is better understood.