The police service

The emphasis on management has been a relatively recent development for the police. The case for the reform of police structures was and remains overwhelming. The bureaucratic expansion of police forces was not seriously questioned within government circles for some time. The expansion of police forces has been matched over time by the creation of numerous specialist units. The continuing commitment to the professional police model based on specialisation and hierarchy has been most recently highlighted by a police federation report on police patrolling. The Conservative government’s commitment to law and order and to the police force was most visibly demonstrated by the consistent increase in real spending on the police service during the 1980s. The Police and Magistrates Court Act has profoundly changed the local administration of police forces. A government commitment to the delegation of budgets has meant that the new police authorities do not have financial responsibility for the police force.