19 June 2008
Police forces need to be made more accountable to improve performance and boost public trust, a think-tank has said.
Despite record increases in police spending, performance on key indicators has stalled and public satisfaction levels have dipped, according to a report from the Institute for Public Policy Research.
A new beat: options for more accountable policing criticises police authorities as remote, weak and unaccountable, while elected local government has no say in setting local policing priorities.
Ministers have already indicated that they might introduce directly elected representatives on to police authority boards. Full details will be set out in a green paper on police reform to be published later this month.
But the IPPR's June 17 report urges the government to go further. It identifies several options to increase police accountability, including directly elected police commissioners; increasing councils' influence over policing; and introducing directly elected mayors with powers to hold the police to account.
No single method of accountability should be pursued, the report adds. The government should allow different models to flourish in response to local needs and circumstances.
IPPR senior research fellow Guy Lodge said: 'There is an accountability deficit in policing. Recent efforts to increase police accountability to the Home Office through central targets have had only limited success and have made policing less responsive to local needs and circumstances.
'The government rightly accepts the need to improve police accountability and give the public a greater say in shaping policing priorities through direct election.
'But [it] must recognise that there are a range of options available and that given regional variations a one-size-fits-all approach will not work.'
PFjun2008
