A missed opportunity for reform, Sean O'Neill - Police Federation
A missed opportunity for reform, Sean O'Neill - Police Federation
A missed opportunity for reform, Sean O'Neill - Police Federation
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potentially more damaging ones.<br />
The change or re<strong>for</strong>m that threatens the British<br />
way of policing more than any other is the one that<br />
will be implemented in November when the public<br />
will be asked to vote <strong>for</strong> the first <strong>Police</strong> and Crime<br />
Commissioners.<br />
On paper this appears an intelligent,<br />
modernising re<strong>for</strong>m. <strong>Police</strong> authorities have been<br />
almost invisible and ineffective. Making the police<br />
answerable to a body that is itself accountable to the<br />
public makes good sense in principle.<br />
But in practice, the first elections seem to be<br />
steaming towards disaster. The inbuilt bias against<br />
independent candidates, who are denied the chance<br />
to compete on an equal footing with the Labour<br />
and Tory party machines, limits the ability of nonpartisan<br />
candidates to succeed. The botched<br />
legislation, which means that a candidate like the<br />
Falklands veteran Simon Weston cannot contest the<br />
election because of a minor juvenile conviction<br />
some 40 years ago, has further narrowed the field.<br />
The public are to be offered a choice between a<br />
variety of second-rate party hacks, many of whom<br />
show little understanding of policing and the<br />
current problems facing the service.<br />
Needless to say, the electorate has not been<br />
enlivened by the quality of the candidates and the<br />
contest so far. A pitifully low turnout seems likely<br />
and that surely increases the possibility that an<br />
extremist candidate with a small but motivated<br />
support base could win power over policing.<br />
The constitutional position of policing is about<br />
to change significantly. Chief Constables will be<br />
<strong>for</strong>ced to bend to parochial political whims. But the<br />
service looks to have squandered its chance of<br />
fighting that change.<br />
94 Upholding the Queen’s Peace