Kent PCC Matthew Scott: ‘If forces merge it will spell a decade of disruption’

Thursday, November 5, 2026

Commenting on reports that police forces could merge, Kent PCC Matthew Scott said:

"Tomorrow (November 6), the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, together with a self-selected group of other Chiefs, will sit on a panel in Manchester, at an event organised by the Metropolitan Police.

"They will explain why they believe that policing should suffer a decade of disruption, that local policing services should be cut back and made more remote, and that this can all be done without ever asking the public what they want from their local police force.

"Their proposal will be merging the existing 43 locally based and locally accountable police forces into remote forces. It is placing self-interest above public interest, and major change above efficiency.

"All this is being done without any evidence that bigger forces will mean less crime and fewer victims. The academic evidence instead points to larger forces being less efficient and effective, and recent inspections of the Met by HMICFRS, Baroness Casey and others have shown that the culture in mega forces is not something policing should be seeking to export.

"Police Officers and Staff will be taken away from frontline duties to work on these uncosted and unfunded proposals when they should be catching criminals not completing spreadsheets.

"Money – your money - will be diverted to pay for this folly, rather than fighting crime and supporting victims. Every pound spent re-organising is a pound not spent catching criminals, and a pound that policing does not have, wasted.

"Decisions about local policing will be made further and further away from where policing matters most – in local communities and neighbourhoods.

"And all of this is being done without any electoral mandate. It wasn’t in any manifesto. Elections have been cancelled. No public consultation. Council tax bills will rise. Devolution is being ignored. And rural communities will certainly suffer as policing will retreat to cities under this mega force model. That is not how British Policing became the envy of the world.

"They are wrong in believing the cost of standing still is that criminals will win. In fact, causing a decade of disruption will make the job of Police Officers and Staff even harder."

NOTES TO EDITORS:

• Lord Hogan Howe is set to publish a report over what a potential police merger will look like – there is no set date of when this will be released.
• Matthew Scott is available for interviews. Email [email protected]