CJS: Elected police commissioners could prove divisive

Richard Garside, director of the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies at King’s College London, comments on proposals to introduce elected police commissioners within two years:

“It is going to be a challenge. Some chief constables have been suggesting they would resign if they had elected commissioners elected and therefore directing policing operations at a certain level.

“We need to separate the question of police accountability from different models. Lots of people would agree there is a need for greater accountability of the police and greater transparency… whether elected chief commissioners are the way to achieve that is another question.

“The events in London where the commissioner of the Met, Sir Ian Blair, was effectively forced to resign because Boris Johnson said he wasn’t prepared to work with him has raised fresh concerns among senior police officers that the politicised role of some elected official who would be more interested in the ballot box and local opinion polls rather than the specifics of operational policing has raised concerns.”