The Government wants existing police authorities scrapped, with local forces overseen by elected politicians instead.
The Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill, outlining such plans, reached its report stage in the House of Commons today.
Now a YouGov poll, conducted on our behalf, has revealed that just 15 per cent of the public would trust an elected commissioner more than the present system. People are right to be wary. These proposals run the very real risk of politicising police accountability and compromising their political independence.
It is a view shared by Lord Imbert, who – as a former Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police and Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service – knows a thing or two about policing. Writing in today’s edition of The Times, Lord Imbert notes that our current policing model, imitated across the globe, relies on the ‘important doctrine of constabulary independence’. He warns that this Bill will weaken that very doctrine; threatening the political independence and non-partisanship of the police – and the Rule of Law itself.
As our research shows, it is not only such autonomy that would suffer. The trust of the general public would also be severely undermined. Of course it is vital that the police should be accountable. Indeed, who wouldn’t welcome stronger and more visible accountability? But the important question is, accountable to whom? Clearly, it should be to the law and the people they serve. Not politicians. Policing in Britain currently stands above party politics. Is that really something we want to eradicate?
This is not a case of us doubting democracy or not trusting the people of Britain, as some champions of the new plans have claimed. If the police are suddenly watched over by a politically-motivated individual, it would be simply impossible to maintain their previous autonomy. And it is inevitable that people’s faith in the police will be damaged further if they become too closely linked with any one political party.
We sincerely hope that the Government listens to the concerns of Lord Imbert, and the majority of the general public, and reconsiders this misguided move.
