Baroness Browning: People feel let down by police
Home Office minister Angela Browning backs the police reform and social responsibility bill in a Lords debate on elected police commissioners:
“Policing by consent is at the heart of our policing in this country and has been for generations.
“We are policed by people who live and work among us. Therefore, it is extremely important that the people regard the police as being there to protect them and to respond to them.
“I know that there can be vexatious complainants – we have all had them – and they can be a real pain, but the main body of the public expect something to happen when they are victims of crime, whatever its level.
“When they feel let down, which I believe many people have begun to feel, we must address it by doing something more than maintain the status quo and reconnect the police with the people in their communities. That is why, although I come to this subject matter from a very low base as I am sure many of your Lordships will tweak out from me in the days and week to come, I believe in the principle of the bill.”
