Major cuts to number of police forces in shake-up

EVERY police force in the country will be able to use live facial recognition vans as part of the biggest shakeup in policing in decades.

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An existing 10 vans will rise to 50, rolled out nationwide, to catch criminals on police watchlists and will be overseen by a national centre on artificial intelligence.

The move comes as part of major changes revealed in the Government's White Paper on police reforms, which seeks to also create a “British FBI” called the National Police Service (NPS) and drastically cut the number of police forces.

Plans already announced also include a new “licence to practice” for police officers, and powers for the Home Secretary to sack underperforming chief constables and intervene in failing forces.