A vote in the House of Lords tonight defeating the Government’s proposals to put control of policing in the hands of elected police commissioners has been welcomed as ‘a clear message to Ministers that they must think again and recognise that neither the public nor the police want to see so much power in the hands of a single individual.’
That was the reaction of Cleveland Police Authority Vice Chair Mr Peter Race after the Lords voted by 188 to 176 in favour of a Liberal Democrat amendment removing the clauses from the Police Reform Bill giving the go-ahead for elected commissioners and instead favouring the idea that commissioners should be chosen by a Police and Crime Panel.
Said Mr Race “This is a clear vindication of the fears which we—and indeed virtually every part of the police service—have expressed about the prospect of giving a single elected individual the power to set police priorities and budgets…and to hire and fire chief constables.
“There is no evidence of real public support for the proposal—indeed a number of national opinion surveys have shown few people either support the idea or believe it would help to reduce crime.
“What is clear is the vast majority of the public do want to see all available resources—especially at a time of major financial cutbacks—concentrated on supporting front-line services rather spending many millions on elections to create highly-paid administrators.
“The Lords have made it clear that they want to build on the current system—the proposed Police and Crime Panels are very similar to the current authority structure—rather than impose an unproven, costly…and potentially damaging…upheaval.
“That is the right approach and it is to be hoped that the Government will heed the message from this vote.”