I agree with Jeremy Corbyn on his decision that a future Labour government would keep the police and crime commissioners introduced by the coalition government. He made this announcement in launching Labour’s campaign for the police and crime commissioner elections, which will be fought in all police areas apart from London and Manchester on 5 May 2016. In London, the mayor already has shared responsibility for policing with the home secretary, and in Manchester the elected mayor will take over responsibility in 2017.
When in government, we struggled to find the right model for police accountability. It was clear that the police authorities lacked visibility and had not really driven local involvement in setting priorities for policing. It was the national Labour government which delivered neighbourhood policing in every neighbourhood, which focussed on the anti-social behaviour which blighted some of the most disadvantaged areas, and which changed performance management to ensure that police forces were assessed on their ability to build confidence amongst local communities. But it is unsustainable for local priorities to be driven by a top down management system – the British ‘policing by consent’ model needs local accountability as well as local delivery.
I could understand why home secretary, Theresa May saw a single, directly elected police and crime commissioner as a step forward in accountability – but they are still very much a work in progress. Labour candidates for the role need to think carefully about how they are going to make an impact. As Theresa May said in a recent speech, she feared she had created ‘a monster’ after the first set of elections. There were some good and serious Labour candidates elected – however, far too many inexperienced and even maverick candidates who managed to bring the role into disrepute by appointing their mates as deputies, or spent money on the trappings of power rather than serious engagement with either the police forces they were accountable for or the local populations they were accountable to.
After four years in the post, my criticism of many police and crime commissioners is less that they have been monsters, and more that they have been unnoticed and ineffective. One of my early fears was that directly elected ‘big beasts’ would be in constant and unproductive battles with chief constables – who certainly see themselves as big beasts! My biggest criticism is that the directly elected representatives of local people have allowed the erosion of neighbourhood policing through both cuts and a lack of focus. Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary Sir Tom Winsor noted in his recently published State of Policing report that:
Neighbourhood policing is one area where the danger of across-the-board reductions in resources is apparent
He explains that it is not just the reduction in officers and police community support officers, but also ‘an ever larger proportion of the workforce being drawn into responding to incidents’ that is damaging the delivery and the principle of neighbourhood policing.
Neighbourhood policing is sometimes characterised as ‘bobbies on the beat’. It is so much more. It is the manifestation of the British model of policing by consent – the view that crime is best tackled by working alongside and with local communities to identify the causes and to prevent the crime rather than simply sending a set of flashing lights screeching to the scene once the crime has happened. There will never be enough police officers to deal with crime and disorder on their own. Building strong partnerships with communities through long-term relationships and involvement is a much more effective way to reduce both crime and cost than cutting the neighbourhood teams.
The real opportunity of civilian and directly elected police and crime commissioners is to ensure that the needs and priorities of communities and victims are kept at the forefront of police policy and priorities. That does not need monsters, rather confident and thoughtful public representatives. We have some strong Labour candidates for this role. Let’s campaign for them – and for the future of neighbourhood policing – in May.
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Jacqui Smith is a former home secretary and former chief whip, she writes the Monday Politics column for Progress, and tweets @Jacqui_Smith1
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