Law enforcement in the United Kingdom

Law enforcement in the United Kingdom is organised separately in each of the legal systems of the United Kingdom: England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. Most law enforcement duties are carried out by police constables of a territorial police force.

There are 48 police forces in the UK. These consist of 39 territorial police forces in England, four in Wales, one in Scotland and one in Northern Ireland. Each is responsible for most law enforcement and crime reduction in its police area. The territorial police forces of England and Wales are overseen by the Home Office and by a police and crime commissioner or other police authority, although they are operationally independent from government. The other three police forces are the British Transport Police (BTP), and the Civil Nuclear Constabulary (CNC), the Ministry of Defence Police (MDP), which provide specialist policing services.

In addition, the National Crime Agency (NCA) is primarily tasked with tackling organised crime and has been compared to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the United States.

The British model of policing is based on three interrelated concepts: the Office of Constable, operational independence, and policing by consent. Police constables have certain powers that enable them to execute their duties. Their primary duties are to protect the public by detecting and preventing crime. Police officers exercise their police powers independently of government and with the implicit consent of the public. "Policing by consent" is the phrase used to describe this. It expresses that the legitimacy of policing in the eyes of the public is based upon a general consensus of support that follows from transparency about their powers, their integrity in exercising those powers and their accountability for doing so.

Most police constables in England, Scotland and Wales do not carry firearms. As of 2022, there were 142,526 police officers in England and Wales, 6,192 of which were firearms authorised.

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