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The speakers voiced concern that privatisation will undermine the relationship between police forces and communities. Unison Assistant General Secretary Karen Jennings outlined the union’s demand for a public inquiry into privatising police functions, based on deep public concern about what’s happening to public services. Gail Cartmail, Assistant General Secretary of Unite, described how policing functions being privatised in her home borough – one of London’s most deprived – are not in the back office but at the sensitive frontline – including crime prevention, 999 calls and custody. “It’s up close and personal,” she said, and she emphasised how privatising policing might thwart Doreen Lawrence’s brave ongoing fight against discrimination and abuse of power.

Our Director pointed out that as a cross-party, non-party organisation, Liberty has no ideological problem with how people spend their money. But she stressed that the constitution isn’t like that. When someone is arrested, or assaulted, they’re not a consumer but a vulnerable individual with no choice over what happens to them. This is the last place you want to inject hunger for profits in place of service without fear or favour.

There was no hesitation in acknowledging that policing isn’t perfect. Representation in the police force has dramatically improved over recent years, with a significant increase in the number of women and ethnic minority officers, but there’s still some way to go. Police Federation General Secretary Ian Rennie said he feared the task of recruiting a police force reflective of the community will only go backwards with the combined blows of cuts, privatisation and politicisation.

Several speakers stressed how the problems with allowing commercial interests to trump the public interest will be multiplied by politicising policing with elected Police and Crime Commissioners. The public expect core public services to be independent of both politics and private money. Ian Rennie reflected on the danger of politicised policing for his colleagues who act independently, knowing they are accountable not to the popular majority but to the blind scales of justice.

Our chair for the evening, the TUC’s Paul Nowak, pointed out that there’s no evidence that private policing is any better. Hugh Lanning, PCS Deputy General Secretary, talked about the slow creep of privatisation: prison staff, then debt collectors, “but policing is one area we thought they would not go”.

The evening concluded with a strong sense that, regardless of our interests and who we represent, everyone who wants to keep vital public services in the public domain must come together. This issue goes beyond politics. Policing isn’t for profit – it’s a core function of the State that must sit above partisan politics. There’s no room for the shareholder in that equation.