Once upon a time, I suppose, everyone knew where they were. We had ACPO, the Home Office and the APA (the old 'tripartite' system) which worked in tandem with the HMIC, the IPCC, SOCA and the NPIA.
This landscape is now in a state of considerable flux with the advent of Police & Crime Commissioners, the College of Policing, the emergent National Crime Agency, the Police ICT NewCo and the fact that quite a large number of police chief officers are moving on to new pastures. (See this Police Oracle report for some helpful information.)
Some people would say that the developing landscape looks messy, incoherent, lacking in vision and without a clear strategy for the governance and proper coordination of significant national policing resources, but I could not possibly comment.
However, I would ask which people and organisations are seeking to take an overview and working out where there might be gaps and overlaps? I fear that there are a number of alternative models of the future in existence, which may not be compatible. Whilst bilateral discussions are no doubt under way and each 'hill' in this landscape is seeking to determine its place in the future, there may be the absence of a joined up plan...
I will be happy to be told that there is a joined up plan and moreover there will seamless liaison with agencies operating under the Ministry of Justice. But I fear that all the interested parties are not all talking with each other.
Perhaps now would be a time to do that?
And even perhaps now would be a time to get everyone in a single room to negotiate it all together in one big conversation? (I would be very happy to be a fly on the wall - if not design a process for such a conversation to happen...)
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