News about the world: Call for wait on police elections

By Dominic Casciani

Ministers are looking for a way forward on how police bodies are organised

Top police officers who want to be elected as one of proposed new police and crime commissioners should wait four years before standing, say MPs.

The Home Affairs Select Committee said there needed to be "greater clarity" on chief constables' independence.

And it warned commissioners may not be able to cope with the workload.

The report comes as ministers prepare to unveil radical proposals for directly-elected policing and crime commissioners in England and Wales.

Commissioners would not only set policing priorities, they would also be able to sack chief constables.

The proposed commissioners are expected to be introduced in May 2012, replacing the current system of local police authorities.

At the general election, both coalition parties pledged greater local accountability of the police. The proposed commissioners were a specific Conservative idea.

The Metropolitan Police and City of London Police will not be subjected to the reforms.

However, many chief constables fear the commissioners, similar to the US system, could compromise their ability to plan crime-fighting.

Opponents of the proposals fear the chiefs will be forced to choose between clearing up local crime and putting resources into combating unseen and complex regional and national threats.

In its report, the Home Affairs Select Committee said there should be a "cooling-off period" of four years for every former senior police officer, such as chief constables or deputy and assistant chief constables, who wanted to stand for election.

"The Committee believes that the restriction on senior officers standing is necessary because otherwise they could be in the position of scrutinising decisions they had made while still in office," said the MPs.

But the committee said that it was also concerned that there was no legal definition of the "operational independence" that ministers have said chief constables would retain.

At present, responsibility for policing is shared between chief constables, the police authorities who oversee broad strategy and the home secretary, who answers to Parliament.

The new system would shift power to the elected commissioners who, in turn, would be scrutinised by new local bodies known as policing and crime panels.

“It is not for chief constables to determine the way in which we should be held to account for the quality of policing we provide to local communities”

Chief Cons Mark Rowley ACPO

"We recommend that the concept of operational independence should… be developed and clarified in a memorandum of understanding between the home secretary, Chief Constables and Police and Crime Commissioners," said the committee.

"It is important that arrangements are made for parliamentary scrutiny of the terms of any such memorandum and subsequently its impact on police work.

"The police and not politicians must, as now, be solely responsible for individual decisions with respect to arrest and investigation."

The committee also warned that the new commissioners could be overwhelmed by the task facing them.

"The concern would be that if police and crime commissioners could not cope with the workload, or could not successfully represent the entire force area, the public's opportunities to engage with the police might get worse rather than better," said the committee.

"Police and Crime Commissioners should be responsible for the budget, staff, estate and other assets in their force area. They should have the same power to appoint and dismiss senior police officers that is currently held by Police Authorities."

Chief Constable Mark Rowley, of the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo), said: "The government has been emphatic in its commitment to operational independence, which alongside local accountability is a cornerstone of British policing.

"We are very clear that it is not for chief constables to determine the way in which we should be held to account for the quality of policing we provide to local communities.

"But we do have a right to clarity about how the arrangements are intended to work."

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