Exclusive: Corruption fears over shake-up in police leadership

Controversial elections for police commissioners with the power to hire and fire chief constables risk bringing corruption into the service, one of Britain’s most senior policemen has warned.

West Yorkshire Chief Constable Sir Norman Bettison said there was a danger that commissioners voted in to govern police forces could influence top officers for their own ends.

Casting doubt over the most radical shake-up of policing in decades, he said he worried that a “sense of obligation” could drive some commissioners to give orders that benefit those who helped them get elected.

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The warning comes as fears grow that policing will become politicised after commissioners take office in November.

Sir Norman, a vice-president of Britain’s most powerful policing body, the Association of Chief Police Officers, said: “I am reminded of the adage that absolute power corrupts absolutely.

“There will be a lot of people appealing for the public vote simply because they want to make the world a better, safer place. Those people are to be celebrated.

“My fear is that (in other cases) it could be the door that unlocks corruption and anything that does has the potential to destroy public trust in policing.”

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He said his main concern was that commissioners could undermine chief constables’ operational independence.

Elections are to be held every four years, but there is no limit to the number of times a commissioner can be re-elected.

“There is the potential for some corruption with a small ‘c’,” Sir Norman said. “What I mean is not the problem of huge frauds and secret bank accounts in Monaco.

“An election brings with it the sense of obligation to people who have helped win the election or might help win a future election, and this is someone who can be elected on a frequent and recurring basis.

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“My fear as a 40-year veteran is that a single person who has limited accountability to any other body runs the risk of looking to ensure that the people that can help him or her get elected are assuaged.”

He added that younger, less experienced chief constables could be particularly vulnerable to a commissioner’s influence. “To an old and crippled chief constable like myself, any hint of being required to do anything other than with integrity will be rebuffed,” he said.

“I can imagine that with younger chiefs with mortgages to pay, however, there is the danger or the risk or the fear of them being influenced.”

Contenders are starting to emerge for Yorkshire’s four police commissioner posts, which are expected to carry salaries of between £70,000 and £100,000.

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Lord Prescott, the former Deputy Prime Minister, is among five people seeking the Labour nomination for the Humberside force area and has already said he wants commissioners to be able to interfere in police operations.

Retired police officer Meredydd Hughes is seeking Labour’s nomination for the role in South Yorkshire, where he served as Chief Constable until last October.

Another retired chief officer, Peter Walker, wants the Tory nomination for North Yorkshire but faces competition from police authority member Carl Les.

In West Yorkshire, current police authority chairman Mark Burns-Williamson intends to stand for Labour. Former chief constable Keith Hellawell, who has not ruled out standing as an independent candidate in West Yorkshire, said he shared Sir Norman’s concerns.

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Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper called on the Prime Minister to scrap the commissioner system “before it is too late”, arguing there would be a lack of “proper checks and balances” on those elected.

MINISTER PLEDGES ‘FULL TRANSPARENCY’

Policing Minister Nick Herbert dismissed Sir Norman’s concerns.

He said: “I do not think democracy leads to corruption and this is a reform that is going to give the public a say and give the public the ability to review this elected individual. I think that is a legitimate step forward.

“There will be full transparency and checks and balances. There will be operational safeguards in place.

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“I appreciate that this is a significant change and nevertheless I believe that chief constables can be reassured by the protocol to which they have agreed which protects their operational independence.”