National Police Service will investigate organised crime, terrorism, fraud and online child abuse
The government is setting up a National Police Service – dubbed the “British FBI” – to deal with organised crime, terrorism, fraud and online child abuse in a major change to policing in England and Wales.
The new organisation, which will be announced by the Home Office in a white paper on Monday, means fraud, criminal gang and UK-wide counter terror investigations will no longer be carried out by a combination of existing agencies such as the National Crime Agency and regional organised crime units run by local police forces.
The National Police Service (NPS) will instead deploy “world-class talent” and “state-of-the-art technology” to carry out these investigations nationally, enabling local police officers to use more of their resources to crack down on less serious and complex local crimes, such as shoplifting or antisocial behaviour.
Under the plans, the work of the counter-terror policing unit led by the Metropolitan police, the National Police Air Service run by West Yorkshire police and national roads policing operations will all be carried out by the new NPS, which will share technology, intelligence and resources across borders.
