19 December 2008
By Paul Dicken The home secretary has dropped plans for directly elected policing representatives after conceding the idea did not carry sufficient support due to fears over the politicisation of policing. Jacqui Smith told the Guardian that the proposals to have directly elected crime and policing representatives sitting on police authorities had been left out of the new Policing and Crime Bill published on December 18 as it was ‘time to step back’ and look at it again. Council leaders had waged a vigorous campaign against the plans, contained in a green paper published earlier this year. This week, the campaign had gathered pace with MPs criticising the proposal and police commanders expressing concern. Following an evidence session on December 16, the chair of the Commons home affairs select committee, Keith Vaz, wrote to Home Secretary Jacqui Smith urging her to ‘amend the proposals set out in the recent policing green paper’ for elected crime and policing representatives to local police authorities. ‘There is a danger that the existing proposals… may ultimately work against the intentions of the green paper to improve accountability and services,’ the letter said. Vaz added: ‘The evidence that we heard today of the considerable opposition throughout the police service, local councils and police authorities to the introduction of direct elections to policing authorities has convinced us that the proposal is fundamentally flawed.’ Giving evidence to the committee, Local Government Association deputy chair Sir Jeremy Beecham and Mark Burns-Williamson, a council member of the Association of Police Authorities, explained their opposition to the plans. Burns-Williamson said the mandate for CPRs ‘would be on single-issue policies at a local level’, and there was fear over the ‘politicisation of accountability’. Beecham agreed with comments from Labour MP Martin Salter that the representatives would just add another tier of accountability and warned that the ‘appetite for elections is not insatiable’. Burns-Williamson added: ‘What this is about is actually not allowing single-issue groups to raise the fear of crime.’ Concerns have been raised that the British National Party will take advantage of the proposals to gain influence on policing and David Winnick MP asked Beecham whether policy should be determined by the fear of a fascist group. Beecham said politicisation and extremism didn’t ‘have to come from political right but could come from other parts of the political spectrum or could be a local issue’. On December 15 the LGA released the findings of survey of police commanders. From 65 responses, 79% said the plans would make fighting crime in their area more difficult. The LGA believe the introduction of CPRs will make it difficult for councils and police forces to work together, damaging the partnership work that currently exists. Beecham agreed with comments from Labour MP Martin Salter that the representatives would just add another tier of accountability and warned that the ‘appetite for elections is not insatiable’. The Home Office was expected to publish a new Policing and Crime Bill on December 18, following the end of the consultation on the green paper, From the neighbourhood to the national.
PFdec2008
