The case for elected police commissioners

This afternoon I had the privilege to speak in a panel discussion at the National Policing Conference in Manchester, held jointly by ACPO (Association of Chief Police Officers) and the APA (Association of Police Authorities).  The subject was the future of policing – a particularly important one given the potential 25 per cent cut in budgets the service is expecting.
 
To the credit of the Police, they’re already pioneering examples of the kind of changes that can save a lot of money while seeing services improve. Surrey, for example, has greatly increased the proportion of civilian staff in its force, acknowledging that they can do many jobs better and cheaper than uniformed officers. Kent and Essex have an advanced collaboration programme, sharing everything from helicopters to HR, that has saved millions of pounds.
 
And the Police (or at least Chief Constables) are rightly open to the idea of looking again at Police pay and conditions, particularly restrictions in police contracts that make overtime expensive, or that prevent Police Chiefs from deploying their officers in appropriate shift patterns.