Encapsulating new policing developments under the Coalition, A Future for Policing: Developments in Policing in England and Wales for the 21st Century examines the major reform proposals and reports brought in since May 2010, including the Winsor Report and the 2010 Comprehensive Spending Review, and analyses what these changes mean for the future of policing in England and Wales.
In the 1990s and 2000s the Police Service in England and Wales underwent profound change which saw massive increases in resources accompanied by increased centralism, a more business-like approach, and the proliferation of national objectives, targets and strategic plans. The Coalition Government signalled a radical shift away from that political consensus towards fewer numbers, a significant reduction in resources, decentralisation, and the creation of locally elected crime commissioners. This book argues that, as a consequence of this, British society and politics are entering a difficult and complex future, featuring a return to some aspects the social tension and disorder which characterised the 1970s and 1980s, and that the Police Service is currently ill-structured to adapt to the changes.
Drawing on the author's own experience as one the country's most senior chief constables and his continuing experience as a police historian and analyst of contemporary police affairs, A Future for Policing will be of interest to senior police officers and policing academics, as well as those involved in leadership and other personal development programmes. It will also be of interest to policymakers and historians.

In 1974 local government reforms became the catalyst for the introduction of a new police service structure, creating 43 separate forces under a new tripartite system. The years since then represent one of the most profoundly turbulent periods of British political, economic and social life. It was a time of great change, and the police service was at the very centre of those changes. Today the service is only superficially recognisable as the one which entered the final quarter of the 20th. A History of Policing in England and Wales from 1974: The Turbulent Years offers a detailed and descriptive chronology of the period, exploring the key themes of order and social stability, the professionalization of the police service, centralization, the dynamics of police community relations, and the 'reform' programmes of the Thatcher, Major and Blair administrations, in particular charting the failure of the Charles Clarke drive for amalgamations in 2005/6. Written by a former chief constable involved in policing throughout much of the period, the book vividly describes the great events of the time, including the threat and ultimate defeat of IRA terrorism; the urban riots of the 1980s; major crime investigations - such as the 'Yorkshire Ripper', the West Case, and the Soham murders - and their lasting impact; the controversial policing of the 1984 Miners' Strike; and the return of terrorism to the British mainland in 2005.