Call for councils to be at the heart of local police accountability

Putting councils at the heart of holding the police to account locally is not only the most cost effective solution - it also ensures the public get a fair hearing, council leaders have stressed.

The Local Government Association is urging the publication of a white paper to more fully explore the idea of elected commissioners.

It warns the move could weaken the police’s ability to fight crime and calls for the emphasis to be building on good practice already established in some areas which sees accountability spread across street and neighbourhood level, to ward, district, borough and city level, through to police force and combined police force levels.

Cllr Richard Kemp, vice-chairman of the Local Government Association, said:
"There is no doubt that the police must be more efficient and effective. People quite rightly want a say on what is being done to combat the crime and disorder issues affecting their everyday lives.
“If the police are to be truly held accountable at local level, then councils must be at the heart of any new system. Councils already have democratically elected councillors overseeing community safety, each of whom are scrutinised and held to account by that authority.

“The reintegration of police oversight into council structures is not only the most cost effective solution, the measure would require minimal legislative changes, drive out duplicate spending and deliver efficiency savings.”

Over time, the LGA has consistently argued that police accountability needs to be reformed and that new structures are needed. It does not believe that proposed newly directly elected individuals will provide the best means for improving police accountability.

The LGA has registered its concerns with the Home Secretary and wants to ensure that the elected police commissioner does not:

fragment local partnerships which are vital in reducing crime and anti-social behaviour as competing manifesto commitments pull councils and the police in different directions;
make a place-based budgeting approach, which is key in driving out savings and improving services, more difficult;
increase the possibility that responsibility is passed between public agencies for failures to reduce crime;
divert resources from important, but less visible police activity, such as tackling serious and organised crime and violent extremism; and
use scarce resources on servicing elected officials at the expense of frontline staff.

Cllr Kemp continued:
“Having each council appoint two policing champions who can then form force-wide executives to replace existing Police Authorities should not take an enormous amount of time or bureaucracy.

“The size of an executive would depend on the number of principal authorities in a police force area, with the policing champions being responsible for all policing activity within an area. This solution not only identifies to residents who is accountable, it also ensures a good connection between local and force-wide issues.”