PCCs: A year is a long time in politics
“As we approach the anniversary of the first (and last?) election of Police & Crime Commissioners, many people have felt moved to do some kind of one year on review.” Jon Harvey provides his ‘glads and sads’ of the Police and Crime Commissioners one year on.
Scrutiny and Police & Crime Commissioners
Police and Crime Commissioners are hugely powerful and have direct and sole control over multi-million pound budgets. Those of us who have closely followed the implementation and election of PCCs know this, but still many of the public don’t understand exactly what this role is. Awareness is growing, in part due to intense media scrutiny […]
How can social media enable citizens to take robust crime prevention action?
Tom Winsor is in many news bulletins today with such statements as: The primary role of the police is to prevent crime, not catch criminals, the chief inspector of constabulary for England and Wales has said (BBC News) Well, of course, we all know this and Sir Robert Peel knew that too: The basic mission for […]
Could do better - MUCH better
“In twelve months it seems that the Home Secretary has spent a considerable amount of time talking to her counterparts but having little or no impact. Her other action was to write to someone else and ask them to deal with it locally.” Nathan Constable argues that if police are required to deal with mental health issues then this needs legislative change and not inaction from the Government.
The right to remain silent
There has been concern expressed at the arrests of those who were involved in the ‘whistle blowing’ of the expenditure of the Cumbrian PCC who had chauffeur driven Mercs to take him to functions, Mr Richard Rhodes had two trips at £700. This was for his ‘personal safety’ allegedly. Two Cumbrian Police staff were arrested, […]
I make mistakes that I learn from ’cause I’m young…
A quick post this and one I’ll start by stating firstly that I think Ann Barnes has rightly condemned Paris Brown’s tweets as being ‘silly’ and ‘offensive’, secondly I’ll add that I’d not usually go for Tulisa lyrics for my blog titles but in this case, it’s appropriate… As you’ve likely seen in the news […]
90% of voters admit they have no idea who local commissioner is
Do you remember the main reason why PCCs were introduced? Go on, do you? You know, it was that idea that Police Authorities were unknown to the public and were the faceless governance of the police service. A single elected figurehead would change all that! And then the Home Office was given the task of […]
Abstaining is NOT a “no” vote
Until about three days ago I had decided to abstain from the forthcoming Police Federation ballot on whether we should attempt to get industrial rights. This was a personal and considered decision based on my own views of the ballot. I do not support it. I do not think police officers should strike and I […]
Reform or perform?
“Not once – not once – has anyone talked about the actual role the police play in society or about the volume or variety of work they undertake.” Nathan Constable argues that the government’s current approach to police reform is misguided and ideological and should instead focus on reforming the work and role of the police service.
Progressive police & crime planning and budgeting
I had a swell day in Leeds yesterday with the The Democratic Governance of Policing: The Role and Implications of Elected Police and Crime Commissioners conference. This was organised by the University of Leeds (Building Sustainable Societies research group) and the British Society of Criminology. You see the agenda here. Lots of fascinating speakers and discussions. Thank you to the organisers, especially Stuart Lister who took the […]
Jobs for the boys
Our new Police and Crime Commissioners (PCC) have been settling into their roles. Their first tasks are to produce a Policing and Crime Plan and sort out the budget for the next financial year. Chief Constables are looking forward to the plans and reminding the PCC’s that they will only be able to achieve as much as […]
The doctor is out…
I have been following @openpolicy with interest. Probably because I have worked in policy (in the voluntary sector for 15 years) and I am not put off by the title. Could ‘real’ people be interested in the blog posts? I am not sure they would be. Unless we involve ‘real people’ however, we are going […]
Optical illusions
I have been reading about of some new schemes a initiatives to be introduced by PCC’s to increase police visibility. At first glance they seem like a sensible approach. If it looks like there are more police on the streets, the public will feel safer and it may act as a deterrent to ne’er-do-wells. However, […]