A major shake-up of policing in England and Wales, aimed at making the service more efficient in fighting crime and more accountable to the public, is to be announced by the government today, Home Office sources said.
Home Secretary Theresa May is due to outline the radical plans, which include setting up a new national crime-fighting agency, to parliament.
The government has said police forces must bear their share of austerity-driven cuts to eliminate Britain's record budget deficit within the next five years. Most government departments face spending cuts of at least 25 per cent.
The Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition has not ruled out cuts to staff numbers overall, but has pledged to safeguard front-line officer numbers.
The Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), which has been criticised for not recovering enough assets owned by well-heeled criminals, is expected to be scrapped just four years after it was set up by the ousted Labour government and replaced with an all embracing FBI-style body, sources told Reuters.
The Home Office's consultation paper - Policing in the 21st century - outlines plans to replace SOCA with a new border police unit, along with the child exploitation and online protection centre (CEOP) and elements of the national policing improvement agency, which is likely to be phased out.
The new agency will focus on cross-border organised crime and drug trafficking.
"The government wants to ensure all aspects of policing are run effectively to tackle crime," a Home office spokesman said.
"This includes serious and organised crime, through strong links between local policing and work done beyond individual forces."
At a local level, there are plans to replace police authorities with elected police and crime commissioners in the next two years to oversee every force.
They will have powers to set budgets and hire and fire chief constables. The proposals have already met resistance by police authorities and some chief constables.
Reuters