Alison Hernandez warns Cornwall could lose police voice

A watchdog report on the state of policing has landed on the same desk as government plans that could scrap the very job of holding officers to account in Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, and the Commissioner who holds that job says the timing could not make her point more clearly.

What the inspectorate found

His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary has published the State of Policing: The Annual Assessment of Policing in England and Wales 2025-26, and the report found that too many forces continue to face challenges in the areas that matter most to victims, including crime investigations, victim updates and public contact.

Responding, Police and Crime Commissioner for Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly Alison Hernandez said the findings show exactly why any changes to policing must strengthen local accountability, not weaken it.

“The findings of this report make clear that policing still has significant work to do to improve investigations, provide better support for victims and deliver the high standards of service the public pay for and have every right to expect,” Alison said. “In Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, 43% of the funding for the police comes from local council taxpayers, with the rest of the money coming from central government.”

The changes Alison Hernandez is fighting

The Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Devon and Cornwall says the government is considering significant changes to policing governance, including abolishing police and crime commissioners altogether and moving their responsibilities into wider local government structures, alongside separate plans to create fewer, much larger police forces.

Alison argues both moves would make it harder for forces to drive improvement, would reduce the public’s influence over policing, and would leave victims with a weaker voice in the system.

She says she has seen, and experienced first-hand, the strength and experience of leadership needed to drive improvement across a force covering one of the largest geographic areas in England.

“Where improvement has been achieved, it has been driven by strong leadership of the Chief Constable, clear accountability and sustained focus. Those are precisely the things we should be strengthening through police reform, not weakening,” she said.

Rethink the mega force plan, Commissioner says

Alison is calling on the government to abandon any move towards a south west mega force.

“Firstly, the government needs to rethink its plans to move to fewer, larger police forces and rule out the idea of creating a south west mega force,” she said. “Devon and Cornwall is already an extremely large police force and there is no evidence that making it part of an even bigger police force would be in the best interests of the public or policing.

“Remote leadership with less understanding of local context will leave rural areas at risk of under-resourcing and the scale of disruption and costs of transition will lead to reductions in service for many years at a time when we need, as highlighted by the inspectorate today, to focus on improving the services that policing provides to the public.”

Residents oppose a merger too

Alison’s concerns about a forced merger with other police forces are shared locally. Of the 1,600 people who responded to her recent public survey, 72% said they were opposed to the idea.

More uncertainty over who takes charge

The inspectorate’s report comes a day after it was announced that the government was pausing local government reorganisation pending a review of plans to merge councils nationally, after the green light had previously been given to expand councils serving Plymouth, Torbay and Exeter, with the rest of Devon forming a separate authority.

Alison said the pause means even more uncertainty about who, or what, will be responsible for policing governance once police and crime commissioners are abolished in May 2028. The government has previously said it plans to hand PCC responsibilities to directly elected mayors, or, in areas where that is not possible, to a Police and Crime Board attended by the leaders of an area’s largest councils.

“Now more than ever, many local authorities remain unclear about their own future structures and responsibilities. It is both fundamentally the wrong time, and unfair on them, to ask councils to take on the hugely complex world of police governance and accountability, together with the extensive legal responsibilities that come with it,” Alison said.

“Policing itself is currently grappling with some of the most difficult challenges it has faced in decades, including rising calls for service, increasing violent crime, workforce retention and the need to reduce bureaucracy across the criminal justice system. The public needs policing to be held to account by a body whose sole purpose is to do exactly that.

“My fear is that decision-making will become slower because it will be in the hands of many leaders, rather than a clearly accountable individual with a singular focus, and the public’s voice will become even more distant from those leading the service.”

“The lesson from this report is not that we need to weaken local accountability. It is that we need stronger leadership, stronger scrutiny and an unwavering focus on delivering swifter justice for victims and communities. I urge the new Prime Minister and his team to think again and to focus on delivering what the public needs from policing.”