A People's Police Force: Police Accountability in the Modern Era

David Blunkett has published the report of a review of the Labour Party's proposals on police accountability.

A People's Police Force: Police Accountability in the Modern Era assesses the way in which the police answer to the public for the service they provide at three levels: at the police authority level; at the divisional, Basic Command Unit level; and in the neighbourhood and community.

Download A People's Police Force (pdf)

The review rules out the Conservative proposal for elected police commissioners, arguing that the narrow remit of such a post invalidates the arguments for having the post holder being elected — and that the risk of far-right extremists taking control of our police force is too great to be ignored.

There are 28 recommendations in all, including:

• That police authorities be retained, with new skills and competencies to determine their membership – both for councillors and for independent members
• That the idea of directly elected members to a police authority and the notion of elected police commissioners be dropped.
• A strengthened role for police authorities in holding chief constables to account, in approving their strategies for tackling crime and in agreeing the allocation of police budgets. Specifically, to oversee how the police should be helping to account directly in answering to both neighbourhoods and wider communities, open up new, more transparent forums and ensure that police authority meetings are held in public
• That police authorities and local government should engage in commissioning services – from outside the immediate area if necessary – in order to spread best practice, engage with the most effective forms of delivery and ensure value for money
• That capping of local authorities (or nominating for future capping) of budgets should only be triggered if a majority of local authorities in the police service area object to the precept
• That police authorities should work across force boundaries to strengthen their capacity to fight serious and organised crime, new forms of crime including e-crime – and that the Regional Select Committees of the House of Commons should monitor and assess their success in joint operations
• That local communities should be encouraged to hold referenda in defined areas, to decide whether residents would pay an additional levy specifically to commission additional Community Support Officers or uniformed police – and that the Community Call to Action, already on the statute book, giving local people the power to lobby their councillors, should be strengthened to require outside intervention where consistent failure occurs
• That the Government should establish support and training for the development of community leaders who would act as advocates (as envisaged in the 2003 White Paper) on behalf of the community, and a direct link with the police in the most challenged areas (and a revitalisation of Neighbourhood Watch)

Mr Blunkett said: "We have emphasised the critical nature of the different tiers and levels of accountability. The police should be accountable directly to the public at the neighbourhood and Basic Command Unit level – and we are setting out here a clear role for police authorities, elected councillors, the diversity provided by independent members and how best to hold the Chief Constable to account for those aspects of policing for which he is responsible.

“In essence, we are underlining that the police should be accountable to the public and the police authority should hold the Chief Constable and his leadership team to account for how that is implemented, the information that is given to the public, the relevance and effectiveness of neighbourhood and community-wide meetings and the proper reporting back which is essential to building confidence and reassurance."

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