Chiefs vote ‘threat’ to policing

The impartial model of policing is threatened by the potentially illegitimate elections of new crime commissioners, says Labour.

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said turnout would be low because the public disagrees with plans to put politics into policing.

She also expressed concern over a lack of diversity among candidates as she addressed the annual conference of police chiefs in central Manchester.

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Ms Cooper, MP for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford, said: “I still think the £100m cost of holding elections would be better spent, particularly with the financial challenge you face, on frontline policing.”

Elections for the new police and crime commissioners will take place in November.

Holders of the new posts will replace the existing police authorities. They will set force budgets and have the power to hire and fire chief constables. The job will carry a salary up to £100,000.

Ms Cooper told the conference: “I am concerned about the legitimacy of November elections with low turnout to a post I do not believe the public supports, and the pressures this will put on the impartial reputation of policing.

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“I also don’t believe that one election for one person every four years to cover such a wide area is actually going to address the accountability problems policing can face in individual estates and local communities.”

The introduction of the post has angered both senior officers and the rank and file.