One of the flagship policies of the coalition government is to allow elected police commissioners take responsibility for the police. The President of the Association of Chief Police Officers, Sir Hugh Orde, has warned that this could lead to police forces being responsible to lunatics. However, maybe, just maybe, the evidence from Devon and Cornwall suggests that this is good move.
Devon & Cornwall Police face the twin challenges of urban policing in Exeter, Plymouth and Truro whilst needing to maintain control of the more rural areas that require specialist knowledge and a more local touch. The released crime statistics show that the majority of crimes are committed in the urban areas. Nevertheless, there is reluctance within rural areas to report crimes driven partly because the police have a more limited presence. It is a spiralling circle: the less confidence the people have in the police the less they are willing to report crime and therefore, the more crime rises.
More recently, the uproar at the curfew in Redruth has raised wider questions about the police and the balance between liberty and security. In the case of Redruth the police did not hold minutes of their consultation meetings and, because there is no elected authority to hold to account, are under no pressure to do so. Indeed, the police only released limited documents detailing what information they collected and how they implemented it. Interesting – but no substitute for the full accountability of an elected commissioner.
In theory, the case of Redruth, parents were able to opt out of the scheme. However a senior Devon and Cornwall Police Officer warned that is children whose parents had opted out continued to misbehave (no mention of the word crime) then ‘we can make parenting orderings if we feel it is in the best interest of the child’. That the police have taken this more intrusive measure tells us it is time for a more responsive police force and for more effective ways of directing the type of policing we want.
It is perfectly possible that the residents of the high crime areas in Plymouth would like to see a similar approach. However, at the moment – because there is no elected commissioner – the Police are under no obligation to heed to the calls from the locals about the style of policing they wish to see. The election of a Police Commissioner would allow residents a deciding voice in how they wish the police to act. Such accountability to the needs of the public is hardly sufficient to justify Hugh Orde’s claim that police forces will be run by ‘lunatics’.
In another example, boy racers plague many parts of the South West. The police response is to make available a phone number for residents to call and are trying to be seen to take action. To be fair, the police have responded more forcefully in some areas by, for example closing of part of Cambourne high street to allow residents to sleep peacefully. Nevertheless, there is still no obligation for the police to act and to be directly responsible to the requirements of locals. An elected Police Commission would be more responsive to the needs of locals because, unlike the current system, he/she would be dependent entirely upon the good will of the people to maintain their position.
Another reason to support the case for elected commissioners is the shift towards ‘intelligence led policing’ (ILP) and the potential to destroy civil liberty in the South West. ILP is a shift away from reactionary policing to a more pro-active stance. Police forces collect information about individuals and build up a pattern of life in order to predict future crimes. However, the risks of this are obvious – the police are looking to act on evidence that a crime will be committed as opposed to a crime being committed. In part, it means they can target efforts but it reduces the cover available for ‘beat bobbies’. There is also a strong case to suggest that this will lead to people being arrested having not actually done anything illegal; a close friend of mine was stopped and searched walking home from the local pub – not a crime that I am aware.
As we have seen, the current methods to hold the police to account are not working adequately. In addition, the record of the Independent Police Complaints Commission is not sufficient to allow for the argument that the police is capable of holding itself to account. This leaves only the election of Police Commissioners as one of the few options available to respond to the policing needs of Devon and Cornwall.
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