A Home Office consultation paper says that each of the 43 police forces in England and Wales should elect new commisiioners - who will replace existing police authorities - every four years, starting in May 2012, for a maximum of two terms.
The commissioners will be powerful new figures who can not only sack a failing chief constable, but also set bugets and force priorities in their force area.
A new regulatory body will also be established in each force area and monitor the elected commissioner in each force. The regulatory body will be free to make any concerns public and in cases of serious misconduct to call in the Independent Police Complaints Commission to investigate their respective commissioner. But how these bodies are to be appointed (or elected) and who will serve on them remains to be seen.
The Association of Chief Police Officers, a self-selecting liberal elite within the police service, which is currently established as a limited company, will also lose key functions under the proposals including its role in monitoring 'domestic extremism' and will be established on a more accountable basis involving the new elected commissioners.
It is hoped the elected police commissioners will mean the end of 'rotten borough' police authorities, help build a direct link between the police and the public they serve and replace invisible bureaucracy with democratic accountability.
Civil Liberty welcomes the new Home Office proposals wholeheartedly and looks forward to the election of the new police commissioners in May 2012. |
