10 October 2008
The Home Office is facing increasing opposition to the introduction of elected crime and policing representatives, as councillors step up their campaign against the proposals.
Following Sir Ian Blair's resignation from his post as the Metropolitan Police Commissioner on October 2, the chair of the Local Government Association, Margaret Eaton, said that the creation of CPRs would make it difficult for people to understand who was responsible for policing.
'The departure of Sir Ian Blair has demonstrated the need for a national debate as to who is ultimately responsible for policing the country's streets,' she said.
The government's police reform green paper, From the neighbourhood to the national, proposes that CPRs sit on police authorities alongside councillors. The LGA said this would increase buck-passing and blame-shifting and undermine co-ordination between police forces, councils and local people. A spokeswoman for the Police Federation said recent events at the Metropolitan Police had 'further demonstrated the politicisation of policing'. She added: 'One has to ask the question, what measures could be taken to prevent the proposed elected positions being targeted by a highly organised local group with a particular political agenda that might not be in the general interest of the public?'
The Association of Chief Police Officers has 'strong concerns regarding the proposals to have accountability vested in an elected sheriff'. In its response to the green paper, Acpo says: 'This resistance arises from the determination that the service should remain apolitical, as well as being able to respond to operational requirements.'
Concerns about political interference were raised in connection with Blair's resignation when he attributed his decision to London Mayor Boris Johnson's wish to see a change of leadership at the Met.
Separately, claims of racial discrimination prompted Home Secretary Jacqui Smith to ask new policing minister Vernon Coaker to 'assess ethnic minority recruitment and progression nationally across the police service'.
Smith said: 'Over the past ten years, minority ethnic representation in the police service has doubled. However, we accept there is a long way to go, and we are determined to work with the police to achieve that.'
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