Category: United Kingdom National Police Chiefs Council

The Premier League Charitable Fund has today (Wednesday 27 November) announced the formation of a new partnership with the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC).

The partnership, which will see the charitable arm of the Premier League work closely with the NPCC and 43 police forces across England and Wales, is designed to use the power of football to help reduce anti-social behaviour and foster meaningful change in areas across England and Wales.

Using football as a tool to build community cohesion, the new partnership will support collaborative working between professional football club charities and their local police forces to inspire young people to reach their potential and provide them with positive opportunities which divert them away from possible involvement in anti-social behaviour, crime and youth violence.

Chair of the Premier League Charitable Fund and former Deputy Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Tim Godwin OBE QPM said, “I am proud to see the Premier League Charitable Fund and National Police Chiefs’ Council working together to create real and measurable change for communities across England and Wales through the Premier League Kicks programme.

“With the Premier League’s continued investment, and by joining forces with the National Police Chiefs’ Council, we are addressing shared challenges such as anti-social behaviour and youth violence. This partnership approach will encourage collective action that we hope will lead to safer, more connected communities, with football at the heart of that transformation.”

The Premier League Charitable Fund’s partnership with the National Police Chiefs’ Council, the body that enables independent Chief Constables and their forces to work together to improve policing for the public, will support 93 professional football club charities delivering the Premier League Kicks programme to work collaboratively with police forces to benefit people in their local communities.

As well as joining forces to raise awareness of positive community initiatives and to share professional resources, the partnership also involves the formation of a data sharing agreement to allow police forces and professional football club charities to share non-personal statistical data.

This data will allow the Premier League Charitable Fund and NPCC to monitor the success of the Premier League’s longest running community programme, Premier League Kicks, in reducing youth crime and anti-social behaviour in priority areas identified by the NPCC.

NPCC Lead for Anti-Social Behaviour, Deputy Chief Constable Andy Prophet, said: “On behalf of the NPCC I am delighted with the continuing success of our collaboration with the Premier League.

 “The Premier League Kicks programme is a fantastic way of engaging youth, developing self-esteem and teamwork, which supports the policing mission to create safer streets and tackle crime and anti-social behaviour.

 “This is an exciting collaboration between the NPCC and the Premier League Charitable Fund and that will allow us to understand the positive impact this amazing programme has on all our communities.

 “We look forward to continuing to work with the Premier League Charitable Fund on the Premier League Kicks programme to reap the benefits which extend far beyond football in its ability to positively impact young lives.”

Launched in 2006 as a collaboration between the Premier League and the Metropolitan Police, Premier League Kicks uses the power of football and sport to inspire young people to reach their potential.

Today, Premier League Kicks is delivered by 93 professional football club charities and is supported by 36 police forces across England and Wales. More than 520,000 young people have benefitted from the programme to date.

Premier League Chief Executive Richard Masters said: “The Premier League is committed to using the power of football to create lasting change in communities. Through working closely with the police, we will continue to create opportunities for young people to thrive. Football is more than a game, and programmes like Premier League Kicks prove that. Working together with the Premier League Charitable Fund and Club Community Organisations across the country, we can build a legacy that extends far beyond the pitch, ensuring that our impact is felt by those who need it most.”

To find out more about Premier League Kicks and the work of the Premier League Charitable Fund, please visit www.premierleague.com/plcf

Policing is ready to support the Government’s ambition to halve VAWG offences in the next decade

T/CC Maggie Blyth, the national lead for Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG)  says policing, nationally and across each police force, is ready for the challenge of supporting the Government’s ambition to halve VAWG offences in the next decade, which has helped elevate the scale of VAWG; which she set out herself in July in the national policing threat assessment.

Policing issued a clear assessment of the epidemic of VAWG stating that 1 in 10 women in this country are victims and 1in 12 are estimated to be perpetrators.
She added: 

“No matter where you are in the country, whether in a city, town or more rural area, the issues are the same. But now everyone is looking through the same lens. There has been a real shift of focus on VAWG and that gives me encouragement.”

Having stepped into the role of Chief Constable (interim) in Gloucestershire she stated that “she could see the absolute commitment that front line officers and staff are giving to the pernicious nature of domestic abuse, rape, stalking and harassment” which are the primary threats of VAWG, as well as online harm and child sexual exploitation abuse.

T/CC Blyth recognises there is still so much more to do when every three days a woman dies at the hands of a man, often behind closed doors.

“We need to do more to stop male-perpetrated violence” she said at the outset of the national ‘16 days of action campaign’ which calls for an end to violence against women and girls.

T/CC Blyth, reaffirmed this message at the Prime Ministers’ roundtable on Monday, and talked about what policing needs to tackle offending which “largely and disproportionately affects women and girls.”

At a Women’s Aid seminar today, she reflected on the huge challenges as part of a wider Criminal Justice System, which is unable to deal effectively with the number of perpetrators.

She said: “When 1 in 20 of the population are perpetrators, we can’t lock them all up, it’s about how we change attitudes and change behaviour.”

T/CC Blyth made it clear that policing must maintain the focus on a data driven approach to recognise the most dangerous repeat suspects and that for these a prison sentence was paramount, but also recognised that more community-based approaches were needed to manage the risk presented by some male perpetrators, and that ultimately prevention is key.

This requires a system wide approach where education is key, schools have a part, but so does industry and other sectors. 

T/CC Blyth added:

“Misogyny is everywhere, across society. This culture needs to change, especially when younger people are influenced online. I am horrified by what some are exposed to, and that violence and sexualised violence are seen as norms. It’s a real concern, but it is outside the scope of policing.

“We need to target perpetrators. Our courts and prisons are under immense pressure, and we know prison is not always the right outcome. This is why we need a cross-sector approach with prevention at the heart to protect victims now and in the future.”

In the last four years there has been an increase in victims coming forward for support with VAWG recorded crime up by 37%. And from 2022 – 2023, more than one million VAWG related crimes were recorded, which accounted for 20% of all recorded crime. 

T/CC Blyth said:

“It’s talked about much more now, and we hope we have done enough to make victims feel confident in reporting and that when they come forward, they will be listened to and taken seriously.

“I am proud of how policing has mobilised itself to tackle the scale and threat of VAWG offences. If I was a perpetrator, thinking I would get away with it, I would think differently now.”

Role of misinformation online shown to fuel actions of increasingly younger demographic, as it’s revealed that 17% of those arrested in relation to the summer riots and disorder were under the age of 18.

Police chiefs have today spoken about the role that misinformation played in the riots and disorder over the summer and the devastating impact it had on communities. The comments were made at the APCC and NPCC Partnership Summit in London today, Wednesday 20 November

After the tragic killing of three young girls in Southport in July, widespread unrest spilled into violence and disorder in communities across England and Wales. The cost to policing these incidents stands at £31.7m as mutual aid was deployed across the country, a cost that is expected to rise.

Assistant Chief Constable Mark Williams, Head of the National Police Co-ordination Centre (NPoCC), said:

“I am incredibly proud of the way that policing pulled together to deploy officers to protect the communities most at risk.

“The disorder was one of the biggest challenges to national policing since the 2011 riots and was the first time the National Mobilisation Plan was evoked by NPoCC, which releases officers from forces to be deployed to the worst affected areas.”

During the 12 day period of rioting, over 40,000 hours’ worth of shifts for public order officers were stood up to protect communities from the violence and disorder. The estimated cost of the police operation stands at £31.7 million, a cost that is expected to rise.

Police chiefs reflected on how exposure to misinformation and harmful ideologies online are influencing the actions of an increasingly younger demographic, as data reveals that 17% of those arrested in relation to the disorder were under the age of 18.

Assistant Commissioner Matt Jukes, Head of Counter Terrorism Policing, said:

“As well as responsible ownership of technology companies and the international work of government to stop misinformation spreading online, we need to equip people to know how to deal with false information.

“It’s too late to wait to de-bunk misinformation that has real-world consequences, we need to get into classrooms so we can ‘pre-bunk’ and teach young people how to respond to this online content.”

Noting the impact this had on communities, West Mercia Police and Crime Commissioner John Campion, said:

“Some felt they had legitimate cause to protest, some were hell bent on causing violence and damage. We need to ensure that the public have accurate information to stop this from happening again. It’s about having the right information out there that people can believe in.”

On the 9 October 2023 the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), in collaboration with the National Police Coordination Centre (NPoCC), launched a coordinated policing response to address potential impacts on British communities following the terrorist attacks in Israel.

This initiative, known as Operation Tarlac, was designed to enhance support for local policing efforts, deliver consistencies in policing response and align with existing counter-terrorism frameworks to ensure public safety and community cohesion.

Once the severity of the initial attacks became clear, it was evident that their impact would be deeply felt within communities across the United Kingdom. Previous incidents of escalated tension in the region, notably in 2014 and 2021, demonstrated how such conflicts directly affect the community fear and confidence.

The response from communities at home has been well documented, and we saw protest activity take place almost immediately following the initial attacks. London saw the bulk of this activity, but at its peak, police forces across the country (and not even including London) responded to 67 protests across a four day period in early November, demonstrating how impactful these events were.

To date over 2,600 protest events have required varying police involvement. This has often required the diversion of resources from other priority business and requiring tens of thousands of rest days cancelled. This has contributed to Operation Tarlac being one of the longest and most resource intensive policing operations in recent history.

Over the past year, most of this protest activity has continued to take place peacefully and without issue, but where we have seen incidents of criminality occur, officers have been on hand to respond swiftly and gather evidence to support prosecutions. Since we nationally started tracking data, there have been over 550 arrests made by police at protests. This include arrests at assemblies, processions, direct action and post event protest arrest when someone has been identified through enquiries and investigations.

Policing’s focus has been on supporting our communities by being highly visible, engaging and responding quickly to crime and disorder. Despite evidenced increased engagement specifically within Muslim and Jewish communities we have seen continued heightened incidents of hate crime reporting.

We continue to work closely with community partners and government departments to ensure the most effective reassurance is taking place because we know we have work to do to create the confidence to report incidents and feel safe in their community.

We have been clear throughout this conflict that as emotive as it can be, there is absolutely no excuse for anybody to use it to engage in criminality. Hate crime has not been tolerated. Committing offences during protests has not been tolerated. We have made arrests and are well prepared to continue to do so.

Chief Constable Chris Noble is the NPCC Strategic Lead for Operation Tarlac, and the national lead for Policing Protests. He said:

“The tragic events of October 2023 and beyond continue to resonate with our communities, and our thoughts remain with those who were affected by that incident, in addition to events that have occurred in the region since.

“Over the past 12 months, our officers have responded to an increase in protest activity seen in response to events overseas, often under significant scrutiny.

“In February the Home Affairs Select Committee acknowledged the complexities involved in policing protests, particularly in balancing the rights of all parties. The recent protests have presented the most sustained period of pressure and coordination on policing since 2012. Our officers and staff have demonstrated exceptional commitment and professionalism in responding to these challenges, and their efforts deserve our gratitude and recognition.

“We recognise that events in the Middle East continue to evolve, that a further escalation in conflict is possible, and that this will raise concerns further in our communities at home, particularly those who have friends and family in the region.

“People wish to have their voices heard, and the right to lawful protest is a key part of any democracy, which UK police uphold and facilitate.

“We continue to ask that those looking to organise any future events contact their local police force and engage with them ahead of the time, to ensure that any activity that takes place does so peacefully and lawfully, to the benefit of all in attendance.”

Senior police leaders have today, Tuesday November 19, set out their vision for a new police service focused on delivering for communities.

Speaking at the NPCC & APCC Partnership Summit, Chief Constable Gavin Stephens, Chair of the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), and Emily Spurrell, Chair of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC), announced their intention to work with government to deliver far reaching reforms that will deliver capability to address new crime threats and help restore the public’s trust and confidence.

Headlines from the announcement, which was made at the QEII Centre in Westminster, include:

• A national policing body with legal status, that can lead the policing response to national threats and drive efficiencies.
• Ambition to draw together national policing data to identify and intercept criminal activity quicker.
• Renewed focus on crime prevention to reduce crime and reoffending.

Outlining the need for a central policing body that can respond to some of the biggest national and global threats, freeing up forces to respond to important local issues, Chief Constable Gavin Stephens, NPCC Chair, said:

“An organisation of this nature could provide strategic, operational and enabling capabilities on behalf of all police forces, doing so once, and well, preventing duplication, and if sustained over the long term, enabling reinvestment into local policing, where it is most needed.”

Setting out the need for wide-reaching change, the Chair of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, Emily Spurrell said:

“We are united in our ambition to serve local communities better. We have to increase the pace of change in policing, driving improvement so that we can deliver a better service and improve public trust and confidence. To deliver this, we have to follow the evidence of what will genuinely improve policing for the public and how and where we can make the biggest impact.”

Gavin said: “Fortunately, never before have chief constables, police leaders and Government been so united in the view that to protect our communities locally, from global threats, policing needs to change.”

As well as a national policing body, Gavin spoke about the importance of improving policing’s ability to collect data at a national level to drive better strategic decision making:

“We must draw together national policing data under common standards, allowing us to identify criminal activity quickly, intercept it proactively and highlight patterns of growing concern. 

“It will also enable us to build the tools needed to combat advancing criminal tactics – not in a force-by-force manner which is hugely expensive, but nationally, once – and for all.”

APCC Chair, Emily Spurrell, welcomed the government’s support for Police and Crime Commissioner and Deputy Mayor led initiatives in crime prevention:

“PCCs respond to local issues and community concerns on crime and policing. It is telling that some of the most impactful innovations have started locally, before being rolled out nationally. Operation Pegasus addressing retail crime and Operation Soteria, tackling rape and serious sexual assault, as well as hotspot policing addressing serious violence and anti-social behaviour, to name just a few.

“Proposals for reform need to recognise that a one-size-fits-all approach will rarely be the right solution but, scaling up approaches that demonstrably work is in all of our interests.”

In her speech to the Summit, the APCC Chair praised the police and wider public response to the summer disorder. She also gave her support for a duty of candour in policing and the wider public sector to improve and increase public trust and confidence. 

In his closing remarks, Gavin summed up his drive to make policing better for everyone, and how we must not shy away from the challenge of reform:

“I make no exaggeration when I say this is a once in a generation chance for us to transform policing. The last one was 60 years ago. Let us not delay any longer.”

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Global risks and local responses – policing for the future

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Police and prosecutors are transforming their handling of domestic abuse cases through shared innovation and closer joint working.     

The Domestic Abuse Joint Justice Plan (DA JJP) commits the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to work together more cohesively at an earlier stage to build strong cases from the outset to get justice for victims and provide them with a consistent service of support.  

Insights gathered from operational police and prosecutors, Commissioners and Inspectorates, government departments, academic studies, victim groups and survivors have led to the actions laid out in this plan which work to strengthen the current system and test new ways of working to better address domestic abuse offending.  

The DA JJP will drive a better understanding of the needs of victims focussing on patterns of behaviour so we can identify offenders who present the greatest threat. 

Baljit Ubhey, CPS director of strategy and policy, said: “The Domestic Abuse Joint Justice Plan is about getting it right first time by bringing the expertise from both police and prosecutors to better recognise behaviour driven offending, and progress cases through the system to get justice for victims. 

“It is about creating cultural change, working towards our shared goal of getting the right outcome for victims through a stronger, more coordinated approach.     

“We have seen through our work to improve rape investigations and prosecutions that when we come together quicker to identify issues and reasonable lines of inquiry, we can build cases which result in guilty pleas or convictions at trial.   

“Getting cases through the system quicker is vital to breaking the cycle of abuse and safeguard victims, and whilst there may be complex cases that take longer, we have seen that when we work together to build robust cases, a charge is authorised within one day.     

“We know domestic abuse needs a system-wide approach; this joint commitment is a step in the right direction to improving victims’ experiences and better protecting them and their families while holding offenders to account.”    

Assistant Commissioner Louisa Rolfe, National Police Chiefs’ Council Lead for Domestic Abuse, said: “Domestic abuse is a devastating crime that can have a life-long impact on victims, and this is often exacerbated by their journey through the criminal justice system. 

“Our people work incredibly hard every day to bring offenders of this despicable crime to justice, but we know there is still more work to do, and we are committed to achieving better, more victim-focussed outcomes for them, which is why we are working with the CPS on this plan, 

“As justice agencies, it is essential we work together to better safeguard victims and hold offenders to account.

“We want women and girls to feel safe and confident reporting any instances of abuse to the authorities. One of the ways we can reassure, and support victims is by ensuring that when they do come forward, swift action is taken to prevent any further harm.”  

Key elements of the DA JJP include:   

• Piloting the introduction of “case conversations”, bringing police and prosecutors together earlier so we target reasonable lines of enquiry, address evidential concerns and develop early prosecution strategies.  

• Testing the impact of more timely decision-making on charging.  This pilot will establish more ambitious timeframes with proportionate action plans, on the day problem solving to set scope on achievable, reasonable lines of enquiries. 

• Communicating at an early stage in high-harm, high-risk domestic abuse cases, considering protective orders from the outset and robustly pursuing those who breach bail conditions and protective orders, considering whether the behaviour amounts to a new offence     

• Developing a shared definition of high-risk, high-harm repeat offending and a cross-agency flagging system to identify offenders who present the greatest threat    

• Supporting victims by working together to develop a pilot that offers an enhanced service to high-risk and vulnerable victims, promoting best practice in victim safeguarding, and providing clear and consistent information to victims while making early assessments for protective orders and special measures applications 

• A local delivery toolkit to support delivery and provide direction to forces and Areas on how to implement the DA JJP. It emphasises the importance of working with local partners, particularly the specialist services and by-and-for organisations who provide invaluable support to victims.   

• Enhancing governance and accountability with a new Domestic Abuse Implementation Board that will encourage cooperation and address cross-cutting issues. Locally, governance products will support police and CPS to work together, along with their local partners, to raise standards and to improve DA performance.    

All of this work is ultimately to improve victim experience, but also help to give victims the confidence to come forward so more domestic abuse cases are prosecuted where appropriate, while understanding not all victims want or will benefit from a criminal justice outcome.    

Swift and effective investigations and prosecutions are one of the ways we are contributing towards the government’s pledge to halve violence against women and girls in the next decade.    

County Lines is a higher risk enterprise for those criminals’ intent on controlling lines.

The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) County Lines and Gangs alongside the National County Lines Coordination Centre (NCLCC) have today (5/11) released the County Lines Strategic Threat Risk Assessment covering the period from April 2023 to March 2024.

Key findings within the assessment reveal that:

• The County Lines threat has become more localised, with fewer lines running outside force boundaries and fewer children recorded by the police as involved in any capacity.
• County Lines is a higher risk enterprise for those criminals’ intent on controlling lines.
• External lines (cross a force boundary) have reduced by 12.2%, whilst internal lines (start and end within a force boundary) have increased by 232%, year-on-year. This represents the shift from a traditional County Lines Business Model to one that is more local.

Furthermore:

• Between April 2023 and March 2024, more adults and fewer children have been recorded by the police as having County Lines involvement, in any role (including victim or perpetrator).
• Despite this trend, the County Lines Business Model continues to involve child criminal exploitation, as well as child sexual exploitation.
• Children going missing is a fundamental feature, where they are trafficked to work on drug lines at the sharp end, as drug runners transporting and selling drugs directly to users.
• This puts them in the most dangerous role within the supply chain, possessing valuable cash and commodity that other criminals may seek to steal, and with potential for violent conflict linked to the drugs operations, particularly over territory.
• OCGs operating in a County Lines context are overwhelmingly recorded as British (91.3%).
• For all regions (except London) the greatest proportion of individuals are of White ethnicity. However, in all regions, individuals of Black ethnicity, where recorded, are over-represented in comparison to the regional population data (based on the 2021 census). Nationally, 65.7% individuals are of White ethnicity, 22.3% Black, 10.5% Asian and 1.5% other (including mixed).
• Crack cocaine and heroin is rarely available for sale on social media accounts advertising drugs for sale, and instead continues to dominate the traditional County Lines market, offered for retail supply on-street, via burner or ‘graft’ phones.

In July the NCLCC launched the Disrupting County Lines Policing Strategy 2024 to 2027 which aims to:

• Prevent people engaging in County Lines, and the associated violence and exploitation.
• Proactively safeguard children and vulnerable adults from harm.
• Better prepare communities by building resilience against the harms of County Lines.
• Relentlessly pursue offenders, including Organised Criminal Groups, Urban Street Gangs and individuals running County Lines.

The 4P approach within the strategy focuses on prioritising the prevention of people becoming involved in County Lines and protecting people. Missing episodes are a key indicator of vulnerability to child criminal exploitation on County Lines. It is estimated 1,900 children went missing in 2021/22 specifically due to County Lines. County Lines has disproportionately impacted the Black community, therefore it is vital that using specialist resources, such as our County Lines Programme Taskforce’s, we proactively rescue children who are reported missing and at high-risk of serious harm.

Working in partnership with specialist support providers such as Catch22, Missing Persons SafeCall and Barnardo’s, we can better protect those children from serious harm, prevent future missing episodes and gather evidence to identify and prosecute the perpetrators of child exploitation.

Relentless and robust action to bring down County Lines gangs is part of policing’s strategic objective in breaking the model used by the organised criminals and protecting vulnerable people who are being exploited by them.

Since the set up in 2018 of the NCLCC, it has been able to develop the national intelligence picture for County Lines and helped police forces improve recording around the threat of County Lines, increase collaboration across policing areas and develop a fuller picture of the threats faced nationally.

Commander Paul Brogden, NPCC lead for County Lines, said: “One of our priorities has been to enable police officers to recognise the signs of exploitation when encountering young people involved in County Lines so that they are able to safeguard those being exploited via these violent criminal gangs.

“Identifying potential indicators of vulnerability at an early stage gives policing the opportunity for early intervention, which could mean a referral to statutory and/or specialist support provision.

“Our highly successful County Lines programme, coordinated by the National County Lines Coordination Centre (NCLCC), has built strong collaborations across police forces resulting in significant numbers of arrests and charges, County Line closures, large quantities of drugs seized, weapons including knives and firearms recovered, and the disruption and dismantling of organised criminal groups.

“Ultimately, as a result of our continued policing pressure making County Lines a high risk enterprise, we are seeing changes in the way County Lines operate, with offenders moving away from running cross-border drug lines to a more localised business model, within their areas.

“Whilst we have seen this change, we have also developed better understanding and improved our reporting and detection around how County Lines operate, which has revealed around 6,600 active lines operating last year.

“The demographic data shows us that County Lines are affecting the Black community disproportionately, who are over-represented as both offenders and victims (when compared with census data) in all regions, and we must continue to do all we can to reduce and remove this disparity.

“We continue to push for further improvements in the way we safeguard individuals so that less children are been drawn into this coercive criminal business model.

“We know the County Lines drugs supply business model continues to exploit children and vulnerable adults, so we must continue working across the country to effectively tackle this cross-border crime.

“County Lines drug dealing destroys lives, and we are committed to stopping the supply of illegal drugs, and the exploitation and violence that is frequently associated with it.

“Our message is clear to anyone running county lines across the country; we will be relentless in our pursuit of you, we will shut down your county lines, we will take drugs off our streets and we will rescue those who are being exploited by you.”

The County Lines Strategic Threat Risk Assessment shows that:

• Three in every four County Lines offenders (76.5%)[1] have one or more previous arrests for offences of violence and/or the possession of weapons.
• Child criminal exploitation on County Lines remains a significant risk, with 2,888 (22% of total) children recorded as having County Lines involvement (victim or perpetrator) between April 2023 to March 2024, down from 3,216 (26% of total) the previous year.
• There are 1,447 Organised Crime Groups (OCGs) linked to County Lines this year, with the numbers of new OCGs and individuals linked remaining steady.
• With continued improvements in recording practices and understanding, across policing, a higher number of lines (6,644) were recorded in the last year (2023-24). This number was 4,007 in 2022-23.
• The overall drugs threat has increased, with greater availability of cocaine and heroin, high production levels for cocaine and the emergence of powerful synthetic opioids such as nitazenes.
• County Lines OCGs drug activity is predominantly crack cocaine and heroin supply, with 87% of external drug lines supplying these drugs.

Minister for Crime and Policing, Dame Diana Johnson said: “County lines activity is some of the most violent and exploitative criminality which fractures communities and ruins lives. We must stop these gangs from luring young people into this dangerous world.

“This report shows police progress in tackling the national county lines threat, but highlights the need to aggressively pursue every gang, in every neighbourhood.

“We will strengthen the law to prevent young people from being drawn into crime and stop gangs exploiting children, leaving no community behind in our efforts to eradicate this awful activity.”

[1] From a representative sample of 2,577 nominals charged via County Lines Programme activity with drugs supply offences (in FY 2022–23).

The NPCC will continue to work with Government to ensure police accountability.

Chief Constable Simon Chesterman, the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for Armed Policing, said:

“Our thoughts remain with Mr Kaba’s family and friends, and the wider community who we know have experienced the most terrible trauma after losing him. 

“My thoughts also go to Sergeant Martyn Blake, his family, and colleagues, I do not underestimate the pressure and distress they all must have endured.

“The court case reflects the complex and difficult situations armed officers face and the decisions they have to make in a split second, under immense pressure.  In the UK it is rare that firearms officers discharge their weapons and even rarer that someone dies as a result.  When this happens, there must be proper investigation, accountability.”

“Police officers are not above the law, and nobody expects them to be, but the system that holds officers to account when they use force to protect the public, their colleagues and themselves, has become broken.

“We are supportive of the Home Secretary’s announcement and welcome their commitment to getting it right for officers and the public they serve and improving overall policing standards for communities.

“The ongoing work on the Accountability Review now has momentum to continue and is a real opportunity to get the balance right in the interests of the public we are here to protect.

“We are proud have the most restrained and professional armed officers in the world, but increasingly they are more afraid of going to prison for doing their jobs, than facing the violent and dangerous individuals we rely on them to protect us from.

“Good police officers need to know that if they do what they are trained to do, they will be supported by the leaders of the police service, Government and most importantly the public.

“We remain determined to get police accountability right and we will support Government to address concerns about the current accountability system to restore the confidence of police officers and the public.”