Originally published 10 December 2010. This article is retained from the tCI archive. Law, policy or practice may have changed since publication.
In the coming months, as the Police Reform Bill goes through Parliament, we will hear a lot about the pros and cons of placing England’s 41 Chief Constables under the direction of an elected politician.
The proposals aren’t new, and have been subject to a recent consultation. This revealed anxieties that the new Police and Crime Commissioners will have to respond to their electoral mandate, which might require a disproportionate concentration of effort on some parts of a Police Force’s area ... or maybe on some specific high-profile offences. Everyone agrees on the need for checks and balances, so elected Councillors – plus co-opted independents will form Police and Crime Panels and will act as a scrutiny function.
So here’s the vision. Elections for the new Commissioners stimulate the public to an unprecedented debate about local policing priorities. The public will be sensible enough to avoid electing single-issue campaigners or overtly party-political nominees and find that their Commissioner is someone who will succeed in urging the Chief Constable to do better but with significantly reduced resources. A Police and Crime Plan makes everything transparent, and when, inevitably issues arise where members of the public feel unhappy, the local Panel will swing into action and start demanding answers.
Operational performance data and financial information will become ever more available and user-friendly. So the hidden army of armchair auditors will be at hand to fire off emails to the Commissioner to keep everyone on their toes. Four years later, the public can reflect upon the state of their policing and decide to endorse their previous choice for a second – and last term of office, or give someone else a chance.
Critics predict a less benign scenario. They foresee an acrimonious relationship between a Commissioner burdened with pre-election promises that, in hindsight appear unrealistic or over-partisan and a Chief Constable failing to make ends meet at a time of cuts and conflicts. Both become irritated by the attentions of a politically divided Panel which dislikes the Police and Crime Plan, and manipulates the local media to further the interests of one part of the Force area at the expense of another. The public find all this bickering a predictable turn-off so four years down the line, few bother to vote. As a result an unrepresentative minority group leader gets elected and makes matters even worse.
We don’t have to take sides in this debate to agree that the policy has its risks, but those who favour the experiment claim that it is self-correcting. If an area allows such shenanigans as described above to occur in its locality, it will suffer and will eventually recognise the need for a more sensible approach. In short, communities have to take responsibility for their own salvation and stop looking to the Home Office to tell them how to organise things.
Which brings us to the Big Society.
Theresa May hardly mentions it in relation to this Bill, but for many Coalition supporters, the removal of top-down diktats is what it’s all about. They see Big Society not just in terms of volunteers doing more, or charities receiving more philanthropy and public bodies shedding staff. They see more direct democracy as forcing local areas to take their democracy more seriously. In the short-term the Government is trying to give elected Councillors more power – not just on Police matters, but also with last week’s announcement of public health responsibilities in England being transferred to local authorities.
But none of this works unless we also assume that channels of public engagement work well. In the case of the Police, Commissioners will need to find ways to keep in touch with a wide range of community or business interests. Panel members, similarly will need well-oiled mechanisms to ensure they faithfully reflect the views of a million people or more. Many traditional methods need a makeover; but new technology, e-consultation and social media look almost ideal.
As the debate rages in the coming months, the ever-present issue of crime and policing remains in need of mature, informed and effective public engagement. The Bill will change much but the case for public dialogue remains as strong as ever.
Trigger points
- The issues raised in this Topic will be explored in detail at the Institute Roundtable Police Reform and the Big Society.
- The Home Office’s document – Policing in the 21st Century
- For information on the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill. It is expected to have its Second Reading in the House of Commons on 13th December
This is the 176th Tuesday Topic; a full list of subjects covered is available for Institute members and is a valuable resource covering so many aspects of consultation and engagement