The number of police forces in England and Wales should fall from 43 to as few as eight, Sir Mark Rowley said in a speech on Friday.
The Metropolitan Police Commissioner used a keynote address in Manchester to set out his case for urgent reform, arguing that the country must choose between changing policing or watching services decline.
Criminal threats now cross regional, national and international borders, Sir Mark said, pointing to organised crime groups, fraud networks, online child abuse, cyber criminals and hostile states.
Policing, by contrast, remains organised around structures designed for a different age, he added.
In his speech, Sir Mark warned that policing leant too heavily on the goodwill of its workforce to compensate for a system out of step with the realities of the crimes they tackle.
“I believe this is a choice between the third greatest revolution in British policing or the inevitable decline and fewer bobbies on the beat,” Sir Mark said.
His preferred model would have eight to 10 regional police forces across England and Wales, supported by hundreds of local policing commands and a new National Police Service.
“The moments that define policing are the moments when it has the courage to change,” he added.
Sir Mark proposed that the change of structure would remove duplication that currently exists 43 times over, freeing up thousands of roles “and allow resources to be reinvested in frontline services”.
He drew a comparison with the NHS, arguing that separate hospital services do not independently provide every specialist capability, and that public safety should be organised in the same way.
The Commissioner also addressed police funding, which has fallen from around 0.9 per cent of GDP to around 0.7 per cent across England and Wales since 2010.
“Policing has tried to keep up, made do as best it can to patch over our broken model,” he said.
“But the model is creaking. We have 43 overstretched forces trying to do too much, with too little.”
The consequences included reduced officer visibility, stretched services and many victims waiting too long for justice, he said.
Sir Mark argued that criminals, organised crime and and hostile states had changed and adapted, utilising improvements in technology, while the fundamental structures of British policing had largely remained stagnant.
“The real danger is not change,” he added.
“The real danger is standing still.”
A panel discussion with four other chief constables was to follow the speech.
