'Scrap police authorities' says new report

'Move would 'strengthen criminal justice'

A report from the New Local Government Network has called on Home Secretary Jacqui Smith to scrap police authorities and return their powers to elected Council Leaders.

The report claims that the changes would not only save millions of pounds which could be pumped into front line policing but also give local people greater influence over local policing.

The future of police authorities has been uncertain following the announcement by former Home Secretary John Reid that plans to merge police forces across England and Wales had been dropped. The decision was proposed after concern that smaller forces were failing to cope with high profile investigations and counter-terrorism operations.

The report argues that Home Office targets for local police forces are still to heavy-handed and can distort a concentration on local priorities that may be different to the national focus.

'Your Police or Mine?', written by Anthony Brand, argues that central control can leave some communities feeling that local police are not dealing with their concerns and targeting the wrong areas.

The report does praise a number of Government proposals to bring local citizens closer to police, including the introduction of Community Support Officers and Community Safety Partnerships. However it argues that if local political leaders have little control over policing policy, citizens will continue to feel alienated from an unaccountable local police force.

It also rejects the recent Conservative Party proposal of introducing elected police sheriffs arguing that it is better to coordinate local policing strategy with other local service priorities with Council Leaders visibly responsible, rather than have a separate free-standing elected lead.

In the report, Anthony Brand argues, "The modern police force has become detached from society, bogged down with bureaucracy and responsive to central policy rather than local need. Central Government crime targets can distort priorities and have little impact on altering the behaviour of policing on the ground.

"Rather than introduce a new layer of bureaucracy and potential political conflict, we can use existing agencies and models of accountability to strengthen the role of local authorities and local Leaders in policing.
"Leaders and local councils are directly accountable to their electorate and so their performance (or lack of it) has a tangible outcome - re-election. This ultimate accountability ensures that communities are consulted and that policy responses meet local concerns, something that the public feel is too often missing from the existing police structure."
The New Local Government Network (NLGN) is an independent think tank, seeking to transform public services, revitalise local political leadership and empower local communities. For further information visit www.nlgn.org.uk