Abstract

In recent years, it has become almost compulsory to preface any discussion of policing in England in Wales by commenting that the police service is experiencing a period of unprecedented change; this chapter is no different. Since the first edition of the Handbook, the police reform agenda has proceeded with pace, taking in reviews and consultations, white papers and legislation, new policing strategies and the establishment of new policing bodies. In this context, it is our purpose to set the scene regarding the police organisation. This chapter provides the introductory context to more detailed arguments elsewhere in this volume. It is deliberately descriptive rather than critical. It sets out a factual profile of the public police to enable newcomers to the subject and non-specialists to locate the important substantive debates of the other chapters in their organisational context. The chapter is set out as follows.