Police chiefs face 4-year wait to become commissioners
By politics.co.uk staff
Senior police officers will not be eligible to become the new elected commissioners without having a four-year ‘cooling off’ period, say MPs.
The home affairs committee published its report on the controversial proposals to replace police authorities with directly elected commissioners today – and warned that whoever does move into the jobs will face an uphill struggle.
Committee chairman Keith Vaz said: “Directly elected police and crime commissioners could give the public more opportunities to influence the way in which their local area is policed.
“But this is not inevitable. In abolishing police authorities and introducing directly elected police and crime commissioners, the government is placing a huge responsibility on these individuals.
“They will have a high volume of work and large geographical areas to cover.”
The committee suggested the four-year waiting period to prevent senior officers having to scrutinise decisions that they themselves previously made.
The new commissioners come into effect in 2012 and will be responsible for setting police direction and strategy, in a style similar to the US.
Watching over them will be ‘police and crime panels’ made up predominantly of local councillors.
The only forces exempt from the changes are the Metropolitan police and the City of London police.
MPs criticised the government for failing to properly define the concept ‘operational independence’ – which they say is vital to policing effectiveness.
It implies the new commissioners need to have their roles more adequately defined to prevent political interference in frontline police roles of investigation.
Both coalition parties are committed to the policies, saying it will improve accountability in a radical move towards decentralisation of power.
Former Labour ministers have been dismissive of the plans, however. Opponents claim that the plans are unnecessary and a waste of money given the 20% budget cuts police forces are already facing.
In a sign of these party political divisions, the committee said its members had “widely differing views” on the issue.
