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Supporting Community Safety and Crime Prevention Across Bedfordshire
"common themes in their [IOPC] investigations involve cronyism, nepotism, abuse of position for a sexual purpose and corruption. Eight chief constables or former chief constables are either currently under investigation or are awaiting disciplinary proceedings."
"doing too little to address racism, misogyny and discrimination within their organisations and in the way they police. Individual police leaders have been labelled as “woke” or “anti-woke” and repeatedly invited to take sides in the socalled “culture wars”.
The pendulum of public, or rather, the most vocal, perception, has swung from one side to the other. Police leaders should be resolute in refusing to take sides, or to be diverted from the course of focusing entirely on the prevention, detection and prosecution of crime.
Police leaders should uphold the core values of the British police service, the Peelian principles of policing. Fundamental to these principles is the notion that police authority is derived from the public’s consent. Consent is gained not only by acting without fear or favour, but also by maintaining the confidence of the public they serve.
Police leaders today need to represent and understand all the communities they serve in an increasingly diverse society and exercise good judgement, demonstrating their impartiality in respect of everyone they encounter."
The quality of police leadership today
The Commission concludes that the overall quality of police leadership across England and Wales is not consistently effective and is undermining the ability of policing to meet public expectations.
Despite many examples of dedicated and outstanding leaders, leadership standards vary significantly between forces and at different levels of the service.
HMICFRS found that no force was rated "Outstanding" for leadership and force management during its 2023–2025 inspections, while many required improvement.
Police officers themselves express little confidence in leadership, with only 25% of the workforce considering their organisation to be well led, falling to just 13% of constables and 17% of sergeants. Officers frequently described leadership as inconsistent, chaotic and poorly understood.
The report also identifies serious failures of leadership integrity. Since 2018, the IOPC has received 107 referrals involving chief officers, leading to 78 investigations covering allegations such as cronyism, nepotism, abuse of position and corruption.
These high-profile failures, together with repeated negative publicity, have contributed to declining public confidence.
Public trust in senior police leaders is significantly lower than trust in frontline officers, and the Commission concludes that improving leadership is essential to restoring confidence in policing.
A reset to focus on cutting crime and keeping the public safe
The Commission argues that police leadership has become distracted from its core purpose of preventing crime, protecting the public and delivering justice. Instead, excessive bureaucracy, compliance requirements and administrative processes increasingly dominate organisational culture. Although some crime types have fallen, charge rates have reduced substantially and victim satisfaction has also declined, indicating that policing is not consistently delivering the outcomes the public expects.
Leaders are operating under significant pressure, with a relatively smaller workforce, increasing staff turnover, growing inexperience among officers and widespread burnout. Supervisors often lack sufficient time to coach and support staff because they are overwhelmed by administrative demands.
The Commission concludes that these pressures reduce leadership effectiveness and contribute to declining morale.
The report further identifies a culture of excessive risk aversion, driven by continual additions to policy, process and regulation following inspections and inquiries. This has encouraged a compliance culture where following procedures often takes precedence over exercising professional judgement.
Many new supervisors reported that leadership training had inadequately prepared them for management responsibilities, while managers frequently resort to formal misconduct procedures instead of constructive performance management because they lack confidence in addressing poor performance informally.
A further consequence is an organisational culture in which officers often feel unable to challenge poor decisions or misconduct. Only 16% of constables reported feeling confident to challenge senior leaders, and even at superintendent level almost half did not feel able to speak up.
The Commission concludes that promotion, conduct and performance systems are widely regarded as lacking fairness and transparency, contributing to low trust within policing itself.
Senior leadership remains drawn largely from a narrow demographic and career background, reinforcing perceptions that advancement depends more on fitting established patterns than merit alone.
Preparing for the future
The Commission concludes that the future demands placed upon policing will require a different model of leadership.
Police leaders will need to manage increasingly complex organisations through financial pressures, technological change and major organisational reform.
They must also become more effective public communicators, motivate increasingly diverse workforces, build stronger relationships with communities and demonstrate greater business, financial and technological competence.
The Government's proposed policing reforms, including the creation of a National Police Service and restructuring of force arrangements, present an opportunity to embed stronger leadership systems.
However, the Commission warns that successfully delivering these reforms will require leaders capable of inspiring confidence, managing change effectively and preparing policing for emerging threats and future challenges.
Addressing inadequate and inconsistent leadership development
The Commission finds that leadership development across policing is fragmented, inconsistent and significantly under-resourced.
Most leadership training is designed and delivered locally, while national provision remains extremely limited.
Only around 550 officers each year participate in centrally delivered leadership programmes, representing approximately 0.2% of the total police workforce. Although the College of Policing sets standards and guidance, it lacks both the resources and authority to ensure consistent leadership development across all forces.
The Commission concludes that decades of underinvestment have left police leaders insufficiently prepared for increasingly demanding leadership roles. It therefore recommends a comprehensive overhaul of recruitment, leadership development, promotion, appraisal and workforce planning, supported by greater national consistency and investment.
This includes establishing a National Academy of Police Leadership, introducing structured career-long leadership development, reforming promotion systems and creating a more professional, evidence-based approach to identifying, developing and supporting leaders at every level of policing.