The government’s decision to abolish Police and Crime Commissioners, along with the Police and Crime Panels intended to scrutinise them, marks the end of a governance model that never fully settled.
When PCCs were introduced in 2012, the promise was clear: stronger accountability, a visible public figure at the helm, and a more direct line between communities and policing priorities. The system was built around a neatly defined triangle. The PCC set strategy, budgets and priorities; the Chief Constable delivered operational policing independently; and the Panel held the PCC to account.
It is questionable whether these arrangements were ever realised. PCC elections rarely attracted a turnout above twenty per cent and were almost always decided along party lines. Independent candidates struggled to match the reach and resources of local party associations.
Commissioners were granted considerable powers, including the ability to appoint or dismiss a Chief Constable. Visibility increased compared with the old Police Authorities, but not always in a way that strengthened public trust or engagement. Oversight of the Chief Constable depended more on the individual PCC than on the reliability of the system itself.
Evidence that the Panels, designed as the counterweight to this concentration of authority, provided the level of scrutiny required is difficult to find. Their statutory powers were narrow, their ability to challenge was limited, and their capacity often seemed stretched. Scrutiny might have been exercised at County Hall but was rarely visible beyond it.
It was under this model that Wiltshire Police lapsed into Special Measures. A stark question follows about whether the scrutiny function was ever sufficiently robust or preventative.
The shift to a councillor-led policing authority appears, on the surface, to offer a broader democratic foundation. Councillors carry ongoing mandates, are embedded in their communities, and operate within committee structures that disperse authority and reduce reliance on a single figure.
This model is less exposed to personal politics and may help rebuild confidence in how policing decisions are made. It aligns more naturally with local government practice and avoids placing heavy executive responsibility on an individual elected on a historically weak turnout.
Yet governance reform cannot solve the deeper financial pressures shaping policing. Wiltshire Police faces a £6.8 million budget shortfall this year and a further £5.2 million gap next year. Against a national average grant of £164 per head, Wiltshire receives just £127, presenting a structural disadvantage that has mushroomed over the years.
The consequences include the closure of Salisbury police station and a force stretched across a large rural geography with diminishing resources. These are not symptoms of weak oversight; they are the inevitable outcomes of a funding model that no longer matches policing demand. Restructuring oversight is no remedy when the core issue is funding.
Layered onto this is the national debate about the sustainability of the 43-force model. Senior leaders, including the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, are calling for regionalisation, with fewer, larger forces sharing specialist functions and centralised capability. Modern policing increasingly relies on resources and technology that many smaller forces cannot sustain alone.
But this creates an awkward tension. If operational footprints expand to a regional scale while oversight becomes more localised, the gap between governance and operational reality risks widening. Rural forces like Wiltshire, with a strong local identity and distinct geography, are likely to feel that strain most sharply.
Ultimately, though, the heart of the governance issue is not structure but effectiveness. It is unclear whether the triangular PCC model ever delivered strong accountability or bolstered public confidence.
A new councillor-led authority may offer cleaner lines of governance, but its success will depend on whether it can finally achieve what the PCC system could not: sustained, credible, evidence-driven scrutiny that commands trust and improves policing. The conditions may be more favourable. The question is whether they’ll be sufficient.
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