Are Police and Crime Commissioners a fix or a failure, asks our regular contributor Jim Gannon.
There has been much media debate on the appointment of Police and Crime Commissioners and their value to society and the public. It is still surprising that the public do not seem to know much about the reasons why they were ever deemed necessary and some think they replaced chief constables. While it appears that in certain areas they are working effectively and in harmony with their chief constables the overall picture is that โthe jury is still outโ on their necessity at all. To get viewpoints from people in the know, I contacted two ex-Thames Valley Police colleagues. First Roy Bailey, an ex-superintendent and now Labour councillor for Bracknell in Berkshire.
Labour view
In an article for Progress, I suggested that to restore public confidence in the democratic governance of the police, the Labour Party needed to develop its own policy on Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) in good time for the 2015 general election. Seven months into the new arrangements and following yet further public disquiet, the need for Labour to outline its thinking is even more urgent. The governmentโs radical reform agenda for policing, of which the introduction of PCCs forms part, has attracted widespread controversy. The key arguments have been well covered. The evidence thus far does not augur well for the future of PCCs in their present guise. Concerns centre around cost, scrutiny, decision making and plummeting police morale. There have also been criticisms about gender imbalance and diversity. The Home Affairs select committee, chaired by Keith Vaz, has established from parliamentary research that already one third of PCCs are costing their communities more than the police authorities they were elected to replace. In addition to a local register of interests, Vaz has also called for a national register to cover pay, interests, costs, second jobs and offices, to obviate charges of cronyism and to enable effective comparisons between all 41 PCCs . The select committee expressed concern that ten โpolitical or personal contactsโ, some with little or no experience of policing, have been appointed as deputy PCCs on salaries of up to ยฃ70,000 each. Vaz said there was an urgent need to guard against โmaverickโ decisions, citing the examples of the suspension of the Lincolnshire chief constable and the controversial appointment of a youth PCC in Kent. The recent forced retirement of Gwentโs chief constable, Carmel Napier, has similarly attracted considerable criticism of Gwentโs PCC, Ian Johnston. Sir Hugh Orde, President of the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), has repeatedly argued that the present arrangements lack scrutiny and that it was โthe worst system you can possibly haveโ. Peter Neyroud, a former Thames Valley chief constable and ex-chief executive of the National Policing Improvement Agency, has also been a trenchant critic of PCCs, describing their accountability as โscrutiny-liteโ. The countryโs first PCCs are overwhelmingly male (35 men and six women) and almost half of the 41 are former councillors or MPs, which was perhaps predictable. The absence of an ethnic minority, particularly in large urban areas where one of the national parties was standing is perhaps something to ponder. It must be a matter of concern that the first PCCs are a monoculture. That police morale has been badly affected by the governmentโs reform agenda is not in doubt. The Police Foundation commented on a poll in the Daily Telegraph, which reported that 95 per cent of officers had no confidence in the governmentโs plans for the police. PCCs are also playing a role in that dip in morale .
Bob Jones, the Labour PCC for West Midlands, doesnโt believe the present model is working well and considers there should be a review, at least in the short term. In particular, he argues that decisions taken by PCCs should be subject to review by Her Majestyโs Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC). As a former police authority chair, he asserts that budgets and policing plans are actually weaker under PCCs. Moreover, he sees no evidence of public confidence in local governance of the police, a central aim of the new arrangements. Surprisingly, as PCC of the largest police area outside the Met, he has not been consulted by the Stevens team [former Met Police Commissioner now Lord Stevens is leading a Labour review of policing]. This lack of engagement must be of concern considering the high expectations attached to it by Labour. Bob Jones is apprehensive about the forthcoming comprehensive spending review, since there is strong speculation that budgets will be cut by up to 8pc. This, he says, will pose enormous damage to much of the proactive and collaborative work now being done in the West Midlands. The Labour Party disagreed with government proposals on PCCs and voted against the bill in parliament. The elections were contested by Labour because it didnโt want to โvacate the space.โ David Hanson, the shadow policing minister, is very aware of the need for Labour to formulate a clear policy on PCCs and insists no decisions will be taken until the publication of the Independent Police Commission in late summer. In the meantime, he and other members of the shadow team have been in regular dialogue with police staff associations.
Another viewpoint
Ex-detective superintendent Derek Bird is working on a security project in Ethiopia. He says: โEight years after leaving the police service, I served as an independent member of a police authority. Apart from attending PA meetings and conducting business internally, I was โattachedโ to a police division; I met regularly with officers of all ranks, I went out on patrol and even worked late into the night with them. Also, I accepted willingly the role of visiting ethnic minority groups, mainly in their places of worship.
The replacement of police authorities with PCCs was a rushed affair that was poorly sold to the public, and indeed to the police service, thus making PCCs both an unknown entity and the butt of resentment for many. If the change had been necessary, there should have been far greater public involvement than a poorly attended vote and the Government must take blame for this. Equally, the change should have been managed better. The process should have been allowed more time and, arguably, the proposed change should have been in Party manifestos! The PCCs who won positions have been a mix of good and not so good, and the same could be said for some police authorities since some could and should have performed better. My greatest concern is that a PCC, with only administrative staff, cannot do what police authority members have done in terms of supporting the police in communities, in bringing back to the chief constable community concerns, and in providing that wider level of support to policing. PCCs have the unenviable job of putting right what the Government got wrong, by proving the value of the role, its efficacy and its ability to do the many good things that PAs did before them. At the next election the public has the task of voting out those PCCs who have not proved their worth, and only a high turn-out will do this in a satisfactory manner. Will the role of PCC last ten years? Politically it would not be appropriate to scrap the role soon but, over time, I might be applying for an extra term with my local, newly constituted police authority.โ
What comes next?
Are police and crime commissioners destined to fail in their task to make policing more transparent, effective, efficient and cost less. The early signs suggest that not all bodes well. If what we are told is true in relation to a decline in police morale there will not be a quick fix. There is no denying that it would currently be a hard sell to convince the public that PCCs have brought anything extra, except in some cases spending. Private security might however have a different take on it because security functions once undertaken by the police now are contracted out to the private sector. PCCs have to be given time to work some magic but it might end up as โnow you see them – now you donโtโ.
For that Progress article visit – http://www.progressonline.org.uk/2012/12/06/pccs-what-next-for-labour/
For more on PCCs visit the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners website – http://www.apccs.police.uk
