The Armed Forces Bill proposes various changes to the the law relating to the Service Police (including the RAF Police). Most of the proposed changes will simply place on a statutory footing many of the powers that are currently derived from a commanding officer's authority over the personnel and property under his command.
Far from extending constabulary powers to the Service Police, the Bill will simply clarify the position of the Service Police (ie that they do not have constabulary powers).
The Service Police are members of the armed forces first and police officers second. The nature of their duties, many of which vary considerably from those of the civilian police, mean that giving the Service Police constabulary powers would be of little value. Their powers over the community they police (ie the armed forces) are considerable and require no extension. The civilian powers of arrest conferred by Sections 24(4)&(5) of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 and the common law, are more than adequate for those circumstances where a Service Police officer would find it necessary to arrest a civilian.
The demarcation between the duties and jurisdiction of the civilian police and the RAF Police, means that most Police Flights have an excellent liaison with their local civilian police counterparts.
The same cannot generally be said of the MoD Police, who DO have constabulary powers, but who often come into conflict with their local Home Office police force. It is very significant that proposals in the aforesaid Armed Forces Bill to extend the powers of the MoD Police have now been scrapped. This was in spite of very heavy lobbying by the MoD Police Chief Constable, to push the changes through. Conversely, the proposals to clarify the powers of the Service Police have remained largely unchanged.
There will be no change to the chain of command under which the RAF Police operate. Indeed, it is one of the strengths of the RAF Police that their command chain contains a healthy mix of specialist and non-specialist officers (including aircrew). Many of the measures enforced by the RAF Police (eg road traffic speed controls) are carried out at the behest of station commanders (most of whom are, of course, aircrew officers).