Most Tory councils do not support plans for elected police chiefs
According to this article the vast majority of Conservative Council respondents to the consultation on directly elected Police Commissioners (most of those in the sample concerned being rural) are not supportive of the policy.
“Conservative councils think the government’s plan to introduce elected commissioners for every UK force will put policing at risk, previously unseen papers show.
The papers, obtained under the Freedom of Information act, show nearly two-thirds of the 37 Tory-run councils that responded to the government’s consultation on police reform failed to give any direct support for elected commissioners.
Instead most raised deep concerns, including that commissioners, due to be elected for the first time in May 2012, would undermine policing, be costly while forces were cutting back, lead to extremist candidates getting elected, concentrate too much power in one person’s hands, create more bureaucracy and increase taxes.”
The article suggests the cost of elections and implementation for the scheme will be over £125 million.
I have no intention of getting into the political debate about the rights and wrongs of this policy idea – I just find it interesting to reflect that it clearly seems very unpopular with a significant number of rural authorities many of the same political hue as the Government.
Has anyone thought through the likely rural implications of these proposals as part of the scrutiny of the decision to have these roles?