Chief gives personal views on forming one Welsh police force

3 February 2023

The Chief Constable of Dyfed Powys Police explained his rationale for calling for the four Welsh forces to be merged into one force for Wales when he was the special guest at the latest meeting of the Federation’s Welsh affairs committee.

During a meeting chaired by the Welsh lead, Nicky Ryan, Dr Richard Lewis set out the ‘sound operational benefits’ of forming a single national force for Wales and stressed that these were very much his own personal views.

The four forces, he explained, had been tasked with saving millions from April this year.

“But, there are only so many efficiencies you can make,” the Chief Constable told members of the Welsh Affairs Business Area group, saying that with a number of well-established collaborations already bringing savings, the ‘next natural step’ would be amalgamation of the four forces.

It was, he said, a ‘no brainer’, citing the success – after a few initial problems – of Police Scotland which could be used as a model.

“I think I should be the last Chief Constable of Dyfed Powys Police, but not the first Chief Constable of Heddlu Cymru,” said Dr Lewis, who believes the forces could be merged as early as 2030.

If police and justice was devolved to the Welsh Government, forming one single force would mean that policing was ready for this reform, he explained, adding that devolution was a political matter for others to comment upon.

After his input to the meeting last week, the Chief took questions from members of the group.

The meeting also included updates from the Welsh lead in terms of her activities in recent months, engagement with the politicians, liaison with local media outlets and progress with the Federation’s Welsh language policy.

Belinda Goodwin, the Federation’s national wellbeing lead, talked about progress with the Police Covenant, setting out four areas where work was needed: financial support, including possible funding for police rehabilitation facilities such as the Police Treatment Centres, demand, collation of trauma and the Wounded Blue Line initiative which offers support for injured officers.

Steve Taylor from the Federation’s Parliamentary Working Group gave an overview of interactions with MPs and Members of the Senedd and invited chairs and secretaries of the four Welsh Police Federation branches to attend the group’s meetings to find out more about making contact with politicians.