By the standards Shabana Mahmood has set for herself, the speech she made to police leaders at their annual conference in Westminster last week was not the most gripping. The Home Secretary’s delivery was stilted, awkward even, as she stuck closely to the script on the lectern in front of her. She left the stage as soon as she had finished without taking any questions.

But there were two sections in Mahmood’s 20-minute address that stood out, sparking speculation that a once-in-a-generation overhaul of policing is on the way. She told the chief constables and police and crime commissioners (PCCs) assembled at the QE II Centre that she would be a ‘reformer at the Home Office’. Then, she referred to the way the £19.9 billion police service is organised in England and Wales.

‘The structure of our police forces is, if we are honest, irrational,’ she said. ‘We have 43 forces tackling criminal gangs who cross borders, and the disparities in performance in forces across the country have grown far too wide, giving truth to the old saw that policing in this country is a postcode lottery.’

Mahmood is right: the way policing is set up makes no sense. The 43-force model, which was designed in the 1960s, has led to parochialism of the worst kind, with chiefs and PCCs pursuing local pet........

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