UK Special Branch to be reformed

Plans by the Association of Chief Police Officers to reorganise the UK's Special Branch into regional teams instead of one largely London-centric body have been described as valuable by Home Office minister John Denham.

According to the Home Office, "measures already in place to support the work of Special Branch officers include;

"· The first National Policing Plan identifies counter-terrorism as a policing responsibility. This will be reflected in Local Policing Plans and help Chief Constables identify priorities in there area and assign resources appropriately;

"· A 6.2% increase in the police settlement for 2003/04, bringing the total provision for policing, including Special Branch policing, to £9,243 million. This is a cash increase of £543 million;

"· £59 million from the police settlement to enhance counter-terrorism measures, £47 million has been allocated to the Metropolitan Police and £12 million has gone to other forces;

"· A National Co-ordinator of Ports Policing, who liaises closely with other border agencies to provide enhanced security at our national borders. He also advises ports police on national, regional and local operational matters; and

"· A joined-up national IT system for Special Branch is currently being developed by ACPO. This will identify the current and future IT needs for Special Branch on a national level."

The UK politicians' obsession with buzzwords causes some humour - "joined up national IT system" If it isn't joined up, what will it be?

Behind the spin is a serious message: Special Branch, the UK's undercover police force, has been focussed on London and regional police forces, there are over forty in the UK - have had to either bring them in or run their own operations. To integrate Special Branch within police areas will have a number of advantages.

But the experience in the USA is that there develops inter-agency rivalry and that the FBI (which falls somewhere between MI5, NCIS and Special Branch, in UK terms) is often regarded as a prima donna when local police believe that they are quite capable of dealing with a case themselves and resent interference from the federal force.

Much the same happens in France where local police may plod along but with the help of an examining magistrate often get to the right place. They resent the national police taking over their investigations, especially where it may bring celebrity to the local police who are wrongly, generally seen as, primarily, traffic police.

So the idea of a national undercover police force is appealing in the battle against organised crime and terrorism. However, it is difficult to see the justification for what seems to largely replicate the National Crime Squad, which was also reorganised into regions recently and also undertakes undercover ops. Increasingly, the multiplicity of agencies seems to be a waste of money when amalgamation would release more money for policing and less for administration and maintaining separate information services.

A radical approach would see MI5, Special Branch and the National Crime Squad amalgamated to provide intelligence, investigation and prosecution support in one organisation.

Now that would be joined up.