UK to Unveil Plans for New National Police Force Modeled on ‘British FBI’
Government says proposed National Police Service would centralize counterterrorism and serious crime investigations.
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) — The British government said on Sunday it will unveil plans this week to establish a new national police force—informally dubbed the “British FBI”—aimed at leading complex investigations such as counterterrorism, fraud, online child abuse, and organized crime.
The proposed body, to be known as the National Police Service, would bring under a single structure the work of existing agencies responsible for terrorism and serious crime, police aviation units, road policing, and regional organized crime units across England and Wales.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the move is intended to ease pressure on the country’s 43 local police forces, allowing them to focus on routine policing and community-level crime within their jurisdictions.
“Some local forces lack the skills or resources they need to fight complex modern crime such as fraud, online child abuse, or organized criminal gangs,” Mahmood said, describing the current policing model as “built for a different century.”
She said the new national force would help attract “world-class talent” while also containing costs by centralizing procurement and specialist capabilities. Full details of the proposal are expected to be presented to Parliament on Monday.
We will create a National Police Service - a British equivalent of the FBI - to tackle national and international crime.
— Shabana Mahmood MP (@ShabanaMahmood) January 25, 2026
So local forces can protect their community, and national policing can protect us all. pic.twitter.com/RGY7txjIDN
According to the government, the reforms could also include reducing the overall number of police forces in England and Wales, alongside changes to recruitment practices and how officers are managed and deployed.
The announcement was broadly welcomed within policing circles. London’s Metropolitan Police—currently the lead force for counterterrorism operations—said it supported the creation of a single national service to handle the most complex and resource-intensive investigations.
If approved, the reforms would mark the most significant overhaul of policing structures in England and Wales in decades, reflecting growing concern over the capacity of local forces to respond to increasingly sophisticated and transnational forms of crime.