Friday 9 November 2012




THE INTRODUCTION OF POLICE COMMISSIONERS - WHY GOVERNMENT HAVE GOT IT WRONG


The introduction of Police Commissioners is seen as 'giving taxpayers the choice' of what crime problems are focused on by local police. However, the potency of such a notion is riddled with questions. For instance, how can true problems reflected in crime statistics (which statisticians work incredibly hard to produce - and are paid by the taxpayer!) be dealt with by police when inexperienced peoples are allocating police resources? Unfortunately we, although we like to think, are not experts in dealing with crime thus the police force should deal with it.

Moreover, relating to this issue David Cameron was on ITV show This Morning earlier this week condemning presenter Phillip Schofield for supposedly trying to convert a policing issue into a widescale political issue. Contradictory? I think so. The introduction of police commissioners will (as demonstrated by the BBC in the link provided above) cause frictions between commissioners and police chief constables. Taxpayers will have a heavy influence on the commissioners decisions on policing, which may well be in contrast to that of the chief constables, who are unanimously the experts. Therefore, it is inevitable that the decision (made by central government) to introduce such a new system could potentially dampen communications and thereby the overall quality of policing in the UK. 

Reviewed by:Adam Rawlinson (FPFL Director)    Uploaded By : Gary Butler (Web Developer)

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