Summer Reading

The floor in the spare bedroom is covered in piles of documents and reports for me to tackle as part of my summer recess reading. The largest pile is made up of defence papers including books about Afghanistan and Pakistan, defence and security briefings, industry magazines and papers for the defence committee. They are ready for the Parliamentary debate on the 9^th of September on UK Armed Forces in Afghanistan.

The second largest pile contains reports from health based charities. As Chair of the All Party Suicide and Self Harm Group I have reports from the Royal College of Psychiatry to read and the replies from the Department of Health to questions I submitted prior to the recess. I am also Vice Chair of the Kidney All Party Group and Secretary of the Parkinson’s All Party Group and have a number of reports and studies to absorb.

My last task was reading papers on the Home Office proposals set out in the consultation on Policing in the 21^st Century: Reconnecting Police and the People. The consultation proposed a single elected Commissioner for each Police Force area. The Commissioner would appoint (where a vacancy arose) or dismiss the Chief Constable, monitor and hold the Chief Constable to account for the performance of the force, set the police budget and set out a local policing plan.

Having read the consultation and papers from numerous sources I don’t know why the idea of Commissioners is being proposed. UK Crime is at an all time low. The British crime Survey of July 2009 showed that compared to 1997 overall crime is down 36%, violence down 41% domestic burglary down 54%. Here in Bridgend we have the head quarters for South Wales Police and across the force area 13,816 fewer crimes took place between April 09 and March 2010. We were the 6^th most improved force in the UK for overall crime and for violent crime as well as the most improved force nationally for sexual offences.

Nationally the Home Secretary sets legislation, policy, objectives and targets. Locally the Police Authority sets the local policing plan and priorities while the Chief Constable Peter Vaughan has operational independence for the direction and control of the police force.

The Police Authority is made up of local people who monitor a wide range of policing activities and functions. There are 19 members of the South Wales Police Authority; ten are Councillors and nine are independent. Each local Council has a number of members based on the votes cast by the electorate. Interestingly the South Wales Police Authority has 4 Labour, 2 conservative, 2 Liberal Democrats, 1 Plaid and 1 Independent Councillors. Of the seven Councils sitting on the Police Authority five are represented by their leaders. Councillor Mel Nott the leader of Bridgend County Borough Council represents Bridgend.

Members of the Police Authority are trained to take on a wide variety of roles from performance and financial monitoring to collaboration with other agencies on issues such as counter terrorism, protection of vulnerable people and serious and organised crime.

The Police Authority sets policing priorities following consultation with the public. Targets are set for reducing and detecting crimes and a police budget agreed and added to the local Council Tax. For 2010-11 the budget for South Wales Police is £257.3million.

In my surgeries and in meetings with the pubic and local organisations I have never heard a call for a change in police structures. So what is being proposed? Police Authorities will be replaced by directly elected Police and Crime Commissioners. Basically each force will have a single elected Commissioner who will do the work of the current Police Authority members. This will place a huge amount of power in the hands of one person so as a check to this power there will be a new Police and Crime Panel (PCP) drawn from local Councillors and Independent members. The PCP will advise the Commissioner on the police plan and budget and can request that the Commissioner can be investigated where there are allegation of misconduct.

Instead of a Police Authority we will have a Police Commissioner plus a Police and Crime Panel.

How much is this going to cost at a time of alleged financial austerity? South Wales Police have already faced a budget cut of £2.6 million, yet it is proposed to spend an estimated £50 million, not on front line policing, but on electing a new layer of highly political and power intensive bureaucracy.

Why will the post be political?

Those who wish to stand for election as Police Commissioner must either be personally wealthy, have financial backers or be funded by political parties. Organising an election campaign covering the whole of the South Wales Police area is neither cheap nor simple. There is a high risk of a great deal of police control being in the hands of one person and one political party.

How much the Police Commissioner will be paid is not detailed in the consultation document. The 19 Police Authority members cost around £213,000 in allowances, travel and subsistence. The new post will be highly paid plus there will be the new Police and Crime Panel to fund.

I cannot see how replacing 19 people from across the police force area with one individual will increase accountability. I fear the politicisation of the police with power concentrated in one individual.

You can find the consultation at www.homeoffice.gov.uk/police/policing-21st-century. The very brief consultation process opened on 26^th July and will close on 20^th September 2010 for implementation in 2012.