UK plans to create 'British FBI' to bring national investigations under single police force

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: AP

Updated 6:09 AM EST, January 25, 2026


LONDON (AP) — The British government said Sunday that it will unveil plans this week to create a new national police force, dubbed the “British FBI,” to take charge on complex investigations such as counterterrorism, fraud, online child abuse and criminal gangs.

The National Police Service will bring under the same umbrella the work of existing agencies dealing with terrorism and crime, police helicopters and policing of the roads, and regional organized crime units in England and Wales.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the new body will lift the burden on the 43 local police forces in England and Wales, helping them focus solely on day-to-day crimes 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,” she said.

Mahmood said the current model was “built for a different century” and that the new body will attract “world-class talent” as well as helping to keep a lid on costs by moving procurement to one national force.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/britain-police-terrorism-fraud-gangs-1feb74571e874e12514d8b9f4b59fc98

[House of Roberts]

1. What good is MI-5 then?

[DavidDvorkin]

3. Perhaps MI-5 would become a division of this.

[jmowreader]

4. MI-5 is all about catching spies and terrorists

This new outfit will enforce federal crimes.

[mwooldri]

6. Think of MI-5 as "Domestic CIA".

MI-6 would be "international CIA".

Though it's a rough approximation because CIA doesn't work domestically and the FBI does what MI-5 does plus a whole lot more - the FBI is actual law enforcement.

Neither MI-5 nor MI-6 are law enforcement agencies. They work with the UK police to supply intelligence - after all they are intelligence agencies.

[mwooldri]

2. Policing in England & Wales can be improved.

With two tier local authorities going away, being replaced with unitary authorities... It makes sense to have Police England, like Scotland has Police Scotland. There should be a Heddlu De Cymru, English regional police, the London Metropolitan Police remains - and certain aspects get nationalised into a national police force. In any case a lot of the police forces in the UK often call on the Metropolitan police for their expertise so to formalise this arrangement makes sense.

I wouldn't call it English FBI though.

But yeah this is IMO a step in the right direction.

The UK does have one police force that serves the whole of the UK - the British Transport Police.

[mysteryowl]

5. Sounds like the right thing to do.