METROPOLITAN Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley has warned that policing in England and Wales is ‘heading for failure’ and backed radical government plans to merge the current 43 separate police forces into eight to ten regional ‘super forces’

These super forces would be supported by hundreds of local policing commands and a new national force.

If approved, the scheme would biggest overhaul of policing since 1967 when the historic Herefordshire Constabulary and neighbouring forces merged to form West Mercia Constabulary which was later renamed as West Mercia Police in 2009.

John Campion, West Mercia’s Police and Crime Commissioner has responded to Sir Mark Rowley’s speech and said: “There is a gross hypocrisy in Sir Mark championing the importance of local policing in London, while advocating changes that could take decision-making further away from communities elsewhere.

“Policing has a proud tradition of being operationally independent and politically impartial, which makes the Metropolitan Police Commissioner’s repeated interventions in debates about police governance and structures in the rest of the country all the more troubling.

“At a time when forces are grappling with funding pressures, rising demand and a criminal justice system under significant strain, I question whether spending time, money and leadership attention on creating mega forces should be the priority.

“When I consulted thousands of residents across West Mercia about police force mergers, the message was clear. People value locally accountable policing and the majority rejected the idea.

“They do not want to see their police force absorbed into a larger regional structure, and those views deserve to be heard.”

The Association of Police and Crime Commissioners has also questioned whether merging forces is the best way to improve policing.

It stated: "The case for modernisation and a National Police Service is clear. The case for reducing 43 forces to nine regional 'mega-forces' is not clear."