Chair of National Police Chiefs’ Council says major changes needed urgently to make service fit for modern age

• In England and Wales, where you live determines the kind of policing you get. That isn’t right | Gavin Stephens

Police are “wasting valuable time and money by doing things in 43 different ways”, with huge and urgent changes needed to end a postcode lottery for victims, the leader of Britain’s police chiefs has said.

The stark intervention by Gavin Stephens, the chair of the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), comes as law enforcement leaders privately discuss radical changes, including a new policing directorate with legal powers to boost the fight against the biggest crime threats in England and Wales.