Sir
Your Free Country editorial today (10th July) on police reform rightly remains cautious: the Government's trumpeted concessions do not go nearly far enough. The Home Secretary's dilution of his plans for direct control of chief constables would still leave police forces to face direct political pressure from the Home Office - in a way they are protected from at present. That must be resisted.

The government should strengthen the role of the police authorities, which could provide genuine local accountability for the police - not simply make them a conduit for the wishes of the Home Secretary.

And the suggestion that "community support officers" will now only be trialled in specific areas, rather than introduced post haste everywhere, ignores the real issue. The problem with community support officers is not the speed of their introduction, it's the basic fact that this gives police-style powers to people who do not have police-level training or accountability.

We agree with the Police Federation: if we need more people to do police work, the government should recruit more police officers, not take potentially dangerous and ill-conceived shortcuts.
Yours
John Wadham
Director - Liberty
21 Tabard Street London SE1 4LA