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APCC & NPCC Summit 2025 – Speech given yesterday by APCC Chair.

Building safer communities in a connected world  

Good morning everyone, it’s a pleasure to welcome you all to this year’s Summit.

As you can imagine my speech has had something of a rewrite after the announcement last Thursday.

In response, I have made clear that PCCs are deeply disappointed with the decision and the lack of consultation.

PCCs have transformed policing accountability and delivered essential support services for victims of crime. Having a single, visible local leader – answerable to the public – has improved scrutiny and transparency, ensuring policing delivers on the issues that matter most to local communities.

Abolishing PCCs now, as policing faces a crisis of public trust and confidence, and is about to be handed a much stronger national centre, risks creating an accountability vacuum, both locally and nationally.

The decision last week risks chaos, with the effect that the reform agenda will place too much power in the hands of a small number of operational policing leaders and Home Office officials, disconnected from what PCCs and local Chief Constables spend their days doing – responding to the needs of communities.

And it leaves, hanging in the balance, hundreds of local programmes and projects, led by PCCs, which address communities leading priorities – anti-social behaviour, serious violence reduction, youth diversion and the support of victims, that have had, and continue to have an enormous impact. 

What will come next is critical. The vital work and difference that PCCs have made and shown what can be achieved by working with agencies and communities must continue.

We must not lose the benefits brought of having a single, visible and accountable leader with direct links to the electorate. It cannot be right to replace that with a distant and faceless co-opted individual or committee.

But we are here today to talk about the challenges facing policing. Challenges that are bigger than any individual PCC or Chief.

I want to make sure that whatever the future of policing governance looks like – it is rooted in local and national accountability, clear and identifiable leadership and connected to local communities. The public deserve nothing less.

But before we get into a broader discussion about the future of policing governance, I want to address an issue that not only has created significant challenges for policing but is having real impact within communities.

This summer, we’ve seen a disturbing surge in hate-fuelled rhetoric and deliberate misinformation about immigration and asylum seekers. 

We have seen a rise in protests, irresponsibly inflammatory language, and deliberate disinformation designed to instill fear and discord. 

Flags are an expression of our identity, and we proudly fly outside our police buildings. But when they are used to provoke fear or assert dominance, they become tools of division. That is not free expression – that is intimidation. 

These actions are sowing fear, fuelling division and leaving – our neighbours, our colleagues, and our friends – feeling unsafe in their homes, and afraid to walk down the street.

These actions do not reflect the values of our country – compassion, fairness and respect are the values that bind us together. 

We all know our asylum system is struggling. It is slow, under-resourced, and in desperate need of reform. We’ve heard this week some of the plans the Home Secretary has to overhaul the system.

Change must not come at the cost of compassion. We must never forget that behind every asylum claim is a human being, often in fear for their life. 

Many of those protesting say they are doing so to protect women and girls. Let’s be clear, to couch anti-immigration rhetoric in the language of protecting women and girls is not only misleading – it is offensive.

We should all be outraged at the extent of violence against women and girls in our communities. It remains at epidemic levels.  

The threat to women and girls is a national emergency – but it is not one that has been imported. It comes from within our communities, our homes, and too often, from those who should be there to love and protect us. Women and girls must be safe and free from harm and threat, and confident that policing and the justice system is there to defend and protect them. And no matter who attacks them, they must face justice.

All of us in policing understand the need to build safe and prosperous communities where people know and understand each other.  

But safety also means standing up to hate. It means challenging lies when we hear them. It means refusing to let fear define who we are. 

Tolerance, inclusivity and respect define our country’s cultural identity in which we can all have pride. They have the power to unify us.

Hate online can be hate crime and should be subject to the full force of the law because its consequence is to sow division, fuel extremism and incite violence. It has real-life consequences and, as we have seen, the potential to reach hundreds, thousands, even millions of people.  

It must not be left unchallenged and we must make sure we have the right tools, legislation and priorities in place to hold people accountable.  

Too often policing is forced to be the arbiter of what’s right and wrong, so the Government needs to set clear standards, and make sure that all our communities are protected and back policing to enforce those standards when that line is crossed.

The nature of crime is changing and with it the demands on policing.  

Over 50% of crime is now committed online. Around 90% is digitally enabled.    

The power of digital technology, and its impact in policing and crime is immense.  

Ensuring the digital world is safe is critical for public safety and trust and crucial in protecting children and young people.   

AI and social media can be forces for good — but left unchecked, they are becoming weapons of harm. Too often, they degrade women, radicalise young minds, and spread hate at a scale we’ve never seen before. 

We cannot achieve the urgent goals of reducing youth violence and halving violence against women and girls without tackling online harms.   

Technology companies must take responsibility, playing a greater role in policing the online space and making it a safer place for everyone.  

Educating our children and young people, informing and equipping them to navigate the online world safely is also key. Another area where PCCs play a vital role – investing in the delivery of local education programmes, working closely with schools.  

As we will hear over the next two days, new technologies are already playing a significant role in policing and their use is advancing quickly.  

Whilst welcoming technology’s ability to deliver improved performance and drive efficiencies, we must also ensure the public’s consent in the use of powerful tools such as facial recognition.  

Our ability to fight crime and build trust relies increasingly on the effective use of data and digital tools – but that use relies on appropriate safeguards to ensure it is both ethical and transparent. 

Police and Crime Commissioners and Deputy Mayors are playing a vital role in supporting this transformation. As the elected voice of our communities, we ensure that policing remains accountable, ethical and responsive to local needs. No matter what their capability and potential, new technologies cannot succeed if the public does not trust how they are used. 

This is the essence of why the role of PCCs and Deputy Mayors is so important. Ensuring the fair, proportionate and appropriate use of policing powers in the interests of the public they serve and to who they are directly accountable. 

Describing PCCs as a failed experiment is as insulting as it is patently wrong.

Indeed, the Mayoral and Deputy Mayoral model for policing and crime the government is committed to replicates the PCC model.

I would argue the proposed panels to be delivered by local authorities in non-Mayoral areas – which will account for the vast majority of areas in our country, and involve multiple local authorities within some force areas – are more reminiscent of the old Police Authorities.

As well as creating a confusing patchwork which will mean they will not be able to effectively oversee policing, they will lack direct accountability.

We want to work with the government to design a replacement that works and that builds on the many successes of PCCs and one that links strongly to the public.

Not everyone has welcomed PCCs, or rather their purpose.

But the need for ongoing scrutiny and challenge – even when it’s uncomfortable – has been proven, time and time again and has never been more important. 

Effective oversight and scrutiny should not be feared. It should be welcomed as part of our collective efforts to improve policing and public trust and confidence. 

Robust and independent oversight also has to be hard wired into the new national policing systems and structures that will be delivered through police reform.  

A stronger national policing centre will bring many benefits but it must be robustly held to account whilst supporting, and learning, from local successes.

Reform has to come with meaningful tripartite governance. 

There is no separation between the local and national; what happens at the centre will impact on all our communities so Chiefs and PCCs – as they are now – need to be an integral part of running the new national centre.  

National policing must complement and not compete with the local policing service.  And policing must not be detached from the voices of our communities. 

Crime prevention and the scrutiny of policing have been transformed by PCCs and Deputy Mayors and we are playing a crucial role in the delivery of key government missions – from safer streets and neighbourhood policing, so highly valued by the public, to the halving of crime against women and girls.     

All have contributed to falling levels of crime and serious violence – both at their lowest levels for 20 years.  

Acknowledging there is much still to do, we also need to be far better at telling the story of our successes to the public. We need to challenge the agendas of those for whom falling crime rates are inconvenient – because they rely on fear to divide us.    

This is the time and opportunity to deliver real change. 

If we get this right, we have an opportunity to improve the service we provide to the public, as well as to respond to meet the new global and national crime threats.  

We must show humility and work together because police reform without public trust will fail.  

We must listen to what our communities are telling us and not assume we know the answers. Because when we listen, we build trust.  

And when we lead with compassion and courage, we create a future where everyone feels safe, valued, and heard. Everyone in this room has the power and the responsibility to lead this change.

Together, we must seize this opportunity and deliver the policing that our communities truly deserve.