Law and order: Elected officials planned in police shake-up

Home Secretary Theresa May said the "most radical reform of policing for 50 years" would hand power back to the public by giving voters the chance to choose who takes charge of multi-million-pound budgets.

The new police and crime commissioners would work within a very different policing structure, which would also include a new National Crime Agency tackling organised crime and protect the UK's borders.

But Shadow Home Secretary Alan Johnson described the proposals as an "unnecessary, unwanted and expensive diversion", adding that town hall chiefs had estimated the cost of commissioners at 50m.

Mr Johnson said that, together with a budget cuts and plans to restrict the use of DNA and CCTV, the police faced a "triple whammy" which would "make their job harder".

More criticism came from West Yorkshire Police Authority chairman Mark Burns-Williamson, who said fundamental reform was "not the answer" at a time when budgets are shrinking.

"Every pound the Government spends on creating the new elected positions and paying their salaries is money that will not be available for policing," he added.

But Mrs May said the proposals would "re-establish the links between the police and the public", adding that new police and crime panels would be introduced in a "robust overview role".

"Over time," she said, "police have become too disconnected from the people they are there to serve."

Police chiefs have held concerns about the elected commissioners proposal ever since it became a key plank of the Conservatives' election manifesto.

Several senior officers expressed fears the elected individuals would impose on their operational independence but the plan was included in the Tories' Coalition Agreement with the Liberal Democrats.

Tom Brake, co-chairman of the Liberal Democrat parliamentary committee for home affairs and justice, said the commissioners would be subject to tough checks and balances.

"These proposals should not be seen as a green light for the election of Judge Dredd characters more interested in populism than effective co-operative policing," he added.

West Yorkshire Chief Constable Sir Norman Bettison said the proposal now had a "democratic mandate" and chief constables had played a part in ensuring it was workable.

He and the Association of Chief Police Officers had held talks with ministers to ensure they would be free to make operational decisions.

Commissioners would not be allowed to "make mischief" by using a chief constable's resources to tackle one particular problem at the expense of other responsibilities, he said.

"ACPO has had its opportunity to raise concerns and a lot of those concerns have been addressed in this paper," Sir Norman added. "If the commissioner were to see the police service purely as a municipal presence like putting out the bins, we were worried that it was going to take away what we call the 'golden thread' – the link in policing from street level to national level.

"For example, what might be a priority in one part of West Yorkshire is street-level drug dealing and that can have links through intelligence to international importation and distribution."

ACPO president Sir Hugh Orde said: "The Government's strong statement of commitment to operational independence is of critical importance."