The Coalition is creating a political Police Force

Coalition policy on the Police Force has a political edge, what with its cuts as well as its forthcoming imposition of Police and Crime Commissioners. Patrick Canavan explains

By Patrick Canavan, on Saturday, January 21, 2012

Political tinkering is undermining the independence of the police force

The announcement that Stephen Otter is to stand down as Chief Constable for Devon and Cornwall is sad news. While I wish him well in his new post I can’t help reflecting on the situation regarding his replacement.

It would appear that the Police Authority has been instructed by the Government not to fill the vacancy. The reason for this seems to be that there will be elections for a new Police and Crime Commissioner in November. This could possibly lead to a delay of up to a year in getting a permanent replacement.

This Government directive is just one element in their apparent willingness to interfere in Policing. Their decision over cuts to Police budgets ran roughshod over the discussions that had previously taken place with the Police Federation over streamlining the Force.

The decision by this Government to introduce elected Police and Crime Commissioners was seriously flawed. I simply do not understand how giving one individual so much power is somehow more democratic or makes the Police Force more accountable than the existing Police Authority structure.

There is much discussion about whether these new posts will make Policing political. The reality is that, thanks to this Government, it already is. The Conservatives have form. Not long after the election of Boris Johnson as Mayor of London he intervened to force the resignation of the then Commisioner of the Metropolitan Police for what were purely political reasons. There must therefore be a question mark over whether their candidates for these new roles will want to follow this example.

The legislation to introduce these posts was only possible because of the support of the Liberal Democrats within the Coalition. They have said that they will “not actively contest” these elections because they feel this make the role political. I would have more sympathy with this view had they not supported the legislation in the first place. Whether they will stand a candidate in Devon and Cornwall is not at all clear.

For the sake of completeness I am in a position to confirm that there will definitely be a Labour Party candidate in these elections. Not that those of us who are members support the role but because we are determined to highlight the effect that the policies of this Government are having on our Police Force.

There has traditionally been a very clear distinction between political policy making and the operational independence of professional Police Officers. That independence has already been blurred. We have to stop the distinction disappearing altogether. Voters will have their chance to help us achieve this on November 15 this year.