By Barry Loveday, Research by Jacqueline Riozzi, Edited by Anna Reid, Foreword by Sir Simon Jenkins

The government plans to amalgamate the 43 police forces of England and Wales into 17 larger ones.  Size Isn’t Everything argues that since small forces perform at least as well as larger forces, and since amalgamations would reduce accountability and take resources from neighbourhood policing, the government should abandon this misguided attempt to introduce regional government by the back door. Instead, the government should allow forces voluntarily to federate where necessary, extend the remit of national policing agencies and/or re-establish Regional Serious Crime Squads, devolve more responsibilities to Basic Command Units, and make them genuinely accountable to local communities.