As detailed in the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill (which is currently being debated in the House of Lords), police and crime commissioners will harbour a number of statutory functions as part of their role designed to hold police services to account.
These statutory functions include setting strategic directions and budgets, as well as holding chief constables to account.
The draft protocol – first laid before the House of Lords on Tuesday – sets out the police and crime commissioners’ legal duty to maintain an efficient and effective police force.
It also sets out how they should provide the link between the police and the public, working to translate the legitimate desires of the public into action.
Responsibilities for other areas are also outlined in the draft document, such as the delivery of community safety through bringing together community safety partnerships and entering into agreements to deliver better value for money as well as better policing capabilities.
Strong operational independence
The Government has made a strong commitment to ensuring that the operational independence of chief constables will remain.
In turn, the draft protocol builds on this commitment by making clear that chief constables retain the direction and control over a given force’s officers and staff.
Policing and criminal justice minister Nick Herbert explained: “The Government is determined to replace police authorities with directly elected police and crime commissioners, to strengthen the local accountability of policing, give communities a voice and enable less interference from Whitehall.”
Speaking directly about the new document, he said: “This draft protocol sets out the proper roles of police and crime commissioners and chief constables, and makes it absolutely clear that operational independence of the police will be safeguarded.”
The minister added: “We hope that the draft protocol will help to inform debate on the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill, and we welcome comments on it.”
In addition, the draft protocol sets out the powers and functions of the police and crime panel which will ultimately scrutinise the decisions of the police and crime commissioners.
Limited role for the Home Office
The draft document states that where the panel seeks to scrutinise police and crime commissioners on an operational matter, the chief constable may also need to appear before the panel to offer factual accounts and clarity regarding the actions and decisions of police officers and staff.
Furthermore, the draft protocol underlines the commitment to limiting the role of the Home Office in day-to-day policing matters while at the same time restating the powers retained by the Home Secretary for use as a last resort in defined circumstances.
These powers allow the Home Secretary to direct the police and crime commissioners and chief constables to take action if they’re deemed to be failing to carry out their functions.
During the passage of the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill in the House of Commons, the Government committed to bring forward a draft protocol with the aim of making it available for consideration in the House of Lords.
A memorandum of understanding was recommended by the Home Affairs Select Committee.
The draft protocol has been drawn up in association with representatives from Association of Chief Police Officers, the Association of Police Authorities and the Association of Police Authority CEOs.
This morning, the Government has again made clear its commitment to introducing directly-elected police and crime commissioners.
This follows a vote in the House of Lords yesterday afternoon on an amendment to the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill, which would see police and crime commissioners appointed by a panel rather than elected by the public.
The commitment to introduce directly-elected individuals to hold the police to account on behalf of the communities they serve is in the coalition Government agreement, and is a key part of making the police more accountable to the public.
Debate will be considered
A Home Office spokesperson explained: “The election of police and crime commissioners is a clear coalition agreement policy, so while we will consider the debate in the Lords. We will look to redress this in the Commons.”
In conjunction with this latest news, a raft of measures just outlined by the Home Secretary will save an estimated 2.5 million police hours each year: the equivalent of 1,200 police officer posts.
As part of a major speech given at Church House in London, Theresa May told the audience of assembled police officers: “These reforms are a watershed moment in policing, showing that we really mean business in busting bureaucracy and allowing police to police and not fill in forms.”
The Home Secretary said that the police should no longer expect to be scrutinised by the Home Office or given top down targets. Instead, they will be afforded the autonomy to manage themselves and be encouraged to come up with innovative ways of saving time, money and cutting crime.
Theresa May also spoke about radical new time-saving measures (including, for example, a process which allows police officers to inform defendants via post that they have been charged).
This will require the defendant to attend court on a specific date to answer the charge rather than calling the suspect back to the police station for charging. This would only happen in specific cases, explained May, but would save around 40,000 police officer hours on an annual basis.
Simplified crime recording procedures
Simplified crime recording process will also be championed, with forces encouraged to simplify their practices.
A review of crime statistics which is currently taking place could see the number of crime categories being reduced. This would reduce the amount of time spent filling out crime reports, in turn saving around 95,000 hours of officer time each year.
More efficient call handing processes, carried out by staff rather than police officers, should mean more efficient prioritising of incidents.
Meanwhile, a review by Sara Thornton – the chief constable at Thames Valley Police – is likely to see a reduction in the police service’s guidance by 2012. This is likely to reduce current guidance from around 600 pieces of police guidance to fewer than 100, leading to significant savings for officers because they will no longer have to learn all of the guidance.
Praise for police forces
The Home Secretary congratulated chief constables in forces such as Avon and Somerset, Essex and Kent and Hampshire and Thames Valley, all of whom have achieved significant savings from outsourcing processes and sharing resources.
“These are all examples of chief officers using their professional judgement to best deploy their resources in the fight against crime,” explained Theresa May.
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