For What Reasons Did the Coalition Government Abolish Police Authorities in 2012? What Problems Do You Think Are Raised by the Introduction of Elected Police and Crime Commissioners?

For what reasons did the league administration abolish patrol governing in 2012? What problems do you think are raised by the knowledgeability of elect law and abhorrence Commissioners? This es phrases objective is to take into consideration the rationale of the spinal fusion disposals determination to interchange law of nature government with select legal philosophy and Crime Commissioners (PCC). A critique and a background of the natural law politics trading operations for recrudesce be discussed and evaluated. A brief history of policing before law governing were established result excessively be explored.Further much, the reasons why thither was a radical ameliorate to PCCs testament be debated and the problems that whitethorn arise. Policing has al slipway been a challenging issue and it most samely allow for always be challenging. Sir Robert Peels first principle of policing give tongue to The basic mission for which the legal philosophy embra ce exist is to pr blusht crime and perturb (Cited in in that locationsa, M 2010). at that place has been an attempt to always cling onto this. The unaccompanied remainder is how certain authorities or governmental groups approach it. In the nineteenth cytosine, autonomy and office staff were located at heart boroughs, topical anestheticly.After a hardly a(prenominal) attempts to try to primaevalize the practice of law force and a few jurisprudence corruption scandals which occurred in the 1950s, it was finally the time for the government to produce a centralised, professionalised group of senior police officers. In 1964, under the law of nature Act, these smaller, more than than manageable forces were to be kn avouch as police authorities. Their agency was to secure the aliment and of an satisfactory and efficient police force for their athletic field. (Citied in Williams, C 2003). However, the police authorities are now existence exchanged by elected PCCs.T he main purpose of this renew is to restore the try for topical anesthetic policing priorities and the commonplace by leading bout with local anesthetic policing partners. This provide boost the dominance of local communities in criminal justice affairs. get-go with a little history of how and why police authorities were introduced. end-to-end the nineteenth century and well into the twentieth, police power was largely seen as a indebtedness of local government, and police were control lead by the appropriate local institution.The policing were in the hands of the local government and the boroughs of England and Wales, by whom fiercely defend the police powers exercised by their elected watch committees. These powers were symbolic of the citys freedom, and police forces were life-and-death exercisers of executive power locally, concerning poor relief, licensing laws, the regulation of the streets, and the imposition of morality on the community. The 1835 Municipal Corp orations Act introduced democracy to the self-governing towns of England and Wales.The only compulsory statutory duty was to select a watch committee to run the police force. The self-governing towns can be described as self-confident, prosperous and autonomous. . The committees had accomplished power over the activities and composition of their forces. (Citied in Brogden, M 1982). The government aimed at change magnitude centralisation at heart the police force except afterwards a few attempts to intervene, they failed. The first attempt by the state to cut down the autonomy of the towns and cities came after the 1853 Select Committee on natural law, which recommended ex leading compulsory police provision to all areas.The piazza obligation were under no doubtfulness that, the most efficient way to run each force would be to put it under the entraps of Government. However, these recommendations from the national power had to be concerned with the opposition of the loca l government. In 1854 and 1856, the rest home social occasions attempts to pass police bills that limited the rights of boroughs to control their own police forces were defeated by the borough. The boroughs also had total autonomy and classless control over operating(a) endings.The watch committees, meeting weekly, had the power to engage and fire members of their forces and were prepared to exercise it. (Citied in Emsley, C 1996). Further act was done by the push portrayatives in the 1920s to gain centralisation. By 1939, Labour controlled 18 out of 83 county boroughs. The interior(a) Office took increasing responsibility for producing a class of leaders for police forces, and thus intervened progressively in matters of training, promotion and dividement. The Home Office also began to intervene more in the appointment of Chief Constables.The 1950s Whitehall introduced a policy of refusing to appoint any Chief Constable who had no experience in a different force this was clearly designed to create a more nationally homogenous and professionalised group of senior police officers. Since the incrementd movement for involvement with the boroughs and watch committees, thither was a growing demand of professionalism within the police. The boroughs had co-operated full in modernising and homogenising the police forces, through co-operative training and communication. Citied in Loveday, B 1994) Between 1919 and 1964, the state tried using efficiency, economy, and national security as reasons to centralise control, before successfully employing corruption to achieve this. The 1960 Royal Commission was actively steered by the Home Office along its own centralist agenda, resulting in the 1964 Police Act, subsuming city forces into counties. These were influenced by the nature of ii policing scandals of the late 1950s, which gave the Home Office a convenient point of entry with which to attack the status quo. (Citied in (Ludtgarten, L 1986).Both scandals wer e cases of corruption within the boroughs, the Brighton Borough police force in 1957, where the master(prenominal) constable and two officers were arrested and charged with a variety of corrupt practises, and in Labour- controlled Nottingham in 1958, where thither was an investigation launched on Labour councillors and succeeded to prove that two labour councillors and the Secretary of the District Labour Party had been bribed on a visit to East Germany. Events such as mentioned above involving corruption led to the boroughs finally losing their police powers completely.A royal commission on the police had been positive in 1960 to review the constitutional position of the police throughout outstanding Britain, and in 1964, the Police Act was introduced. (Citied in Willams, C 2003). Returning to respond the question more instantaneously now, the Police Act of 1946 mirrored the interests of grand efficiency and great central control over policing. It allowed for the amalgamati on of animated forces into more efficient units, merging them into a more manageable procedure of 43 forces in England and Wales.The watch committees were replaced with police authorities. This new system was characterized as the multilateral social system of police responsibility. The tripartite system distributes responsibilities between the Home Office, the local police authority, and the headman constable of the force. (Citied in Williams, C 2003). This tripartite system provides answerability to Parliament through the Home Secretary (who has responsibility for policing policy including centrally mount key priorities that are formalised within a National Policing Plan).Police Authorities were composed of councillors (two-thirds) and magistrates (one-third) and their role was to secure the maintenance and of an adequate and efficient police force for their area. (Citied in Williams, C 2003). To liberate this duty they were provided with a number of specific and statutory r esponsibilities which include appointing and dismissing its senior officers, making sure arrangements are in place to consult the local community well-nigh the policing of their area and heir priorities, publish an annual local policing plan and a best value instruction execution plan, setting out the policing priorities, capital punishment posts, and the allocation of resources, to publish a three-year strategy plan, which mustiness be approved by the Home Secretary and monitor the performance of the force in de pull throughring the policing plan. (Joyce, P 2011 118, 127). Although there project been issues raised round police authorities and these concerns will be brought to the surface, it can also be argued that police authorities afford constituently tried to provide an efficient and powerful police force.This can be shown by all the legislation that has been introduced. The 1994 Police and Magistrates Act, Courts Act (PMCA) 1995, the Police Act 1996, and the Police Re form Act 2002, have all endorsed the tripartite arrangements and aimed to basically mark and provide an adequate, efficient and efficient police force. ( Citied in Williams, C 2003). The introduction of the policing pledge in 2008 by the Labour party, although it has been scrapped by the alignment government, aimed at restoring prevalent faith and to ensure the run universe provided locally were adequate.Promises such as providing monthly local crime rates, answering all non-emergency calls promptly, providing information to the community on their neighbourhood Policing Team i. e. where they are based, how to contact them and how to work with them were express on this document, to increase community engagement and involvement. (Citied in The Policing Pledge, 2008). There has been placed a great deal of importance on sanction, localisation, decentralization of power and community involvement. There has been many green and white papers published to support this.David Blunkett s Civil Renewal schedule (2003) and David Camerons Big Society docket (2010) has influenced trends towards community engagement, confident and cooperation within their respective policing reform programmes continues. The agendas extensively centre on the responsibility of the government and e genuinely citizens efforts to strengthen communities, to revitalise our democracy and to provide more power and opportunity into peoples hands and security for all. It is believed that the engagement of everyone is necessary to make that happen the government alone can non fix every problem.Furthermore, Sir Ronnie Flanagan conducted the report of The Review of Policing in 2008. Flanagan stated that involving local communities in political decision-making processes is crucial and delivering in partnerships, developing the hands and improving performance at force levels. (Flanagan, 2008). As mentioned above, there were concerns regarding the police authorities. One of the main issues was t hat central control undermined local police affairs power and authority. In the early 1980s, there were clashes between police authorities and school principal constables relating to who would have the final say in particular activity.The cartel of the Home Office by chief constables tended to increase the power of the central government over local police arrangements. In addition, the introduction of the 1994 Police and Magistrates Courts Act enabled the Home Secretary to determine and set national objectives or priorties. This task was previously done by chief constables. Furthermore, the police areas would be assessed on their attainment by comparing to a set of performance targets. Empowerment, localisation, and decentralisation are clearly non sweard. ( Citied in Williams, C 2003).Additionally, the website continued to be aggravating as further developments such as the targets imposed by central government were extended and became the key irradiation of performance manage ment. Police forces had to deliver on activities, which were determined centrally. Public emolument Agreements (PSAs) were introduced in 1998 to promote clarity in service delivery, again centrally. This target regime led to the bulk of police work focusing on achieving the targets imposed on them, this made it impossible to concentrate on local concerns. This again suggests the central power undermining powers and authority locally.Also, it was suggested that centrally determined targets tend to distort priorties, tempting officers into using their tine in unproductive ways into taperly fiddling performance figures (Loveday and Reid, 2003 19). Similarly, they created a counting culture within the police service whereby only what got measured got done (Loveday and Reid, 2003 22). Additional research was undertaken in 2003 investigating the role of police authorities in exoteric engagement. Participants that were interviewed saw police authorities independence from the police for ce as very important.This was because of the risk of corruption or abuse of power. If it was 100 per cent fully independent, then I think that would make a lot of difference to people, and I think they would feel a lot happier knowing that it was worldkept an eye on. (Home Office 2003 19). However, many participants thought that police authorities did not appear to be independent enough, and this could undermine the communitys confidence and trust in them. There was a feeling in many groups that the number of independent members should increase or even that authorities should be composed completely of independent members.There were worries that the independent members talent not have a fair say, as councillors and magistrates have an overall volume on the authority. (Citied in Home Office, 2003). Youre paying.. its your community, you live there, so you should have a say in how its policed. (Home Office 2003 17). The community does seem to desire to get involved in the decision making, however when asked who made decisions about spending and who was responsible for the monitor of police performance, there was very little spontaneous mention of police authorities. (Citied in Home Office, 2003).These findings suggest that police authorities are not adequate or efficient enough, people living in the communities have very little familiarity of police authorities and the question is why? more should be done to advertise and involve the community in the decision making process of what happens in their communities. Their involvement would increase the confidence in the police and create a more coherent community. Conversely, as the Coalition government scrapped the policing pledge, they also disposed police authorities in 2o12 and replaced them with elected police and crime commissioners (PCC).The Coalition government strongly believed that it was vital to replace bureaucratic accountability from central government to democratic accountability to the public. P CCs will make forces truly accountable to the communities they serve, ensuring that resources are properly targeted to where they are required and giving the public a greater say in measures to focus crime and improve community safety. The main aim of PCC was to put power directly in the hands of the public. (Home Affairs Committee, 2o1o10). The key powers of PCCs are to set the police force budget and to hire and fire chief constables. Citied in Home Affairs Committee, 2010). The Elected PCCs have get across issues that the police authorities did not the community involvement, empowerment and local governing is greater. The community elects their own PCCs locally and it represents the drive for local policing priorities and the public by leading engagement with local policing partners. This new approach to policing is boosting the empowerment of local communities in criminal justice affairs. They will hold the elected chief constable to account making sure that policing is resp onsive to the communities needs.There is an increase democratic accountability. (Citied in Home Affairs Committee, 2010). However, this new reform also faces a few critiques. Lord Blair referred to this proposal as the most sorry provision about policing I have ever encountered (Blair, 2011). Firstly, the PCC will replace the 17 or 19 members who currently represent a police authority. It is impossible to venture how one person can adequately represent the diverse demands of the considerable range of communities found in the areas toped by police forces, whether they are heavily populated urban ones or cover geographically large rural areas. Joyce, P 2011). As the policing needs and concerns of neighbourhoods are usually vastly different and are often in direct competition for finite police resources, it is a concern that a PCC will seek to direct policing to address the localised, sectionalised or political interests of those who elected him or her into office thus serving to p oliticise policing and opening the door to the opening of corruption. (Joyce, P 2011). Before the 1964 Police Act, there were claims and investigations into policing corruption scandals the Borough police force in 1957 and in Nottingham in 1958. Citied in Willams, C 2003). Its due to these concerns about policing corruption, the police force became centralised. This is a major concern and strict safeguards and monitoring will have to be established to avoid it from happening again. gamely, there is the question as to whether this reform was needed. It is fair to suggest that it is intensely politicized and a populist measure. Valid criticisms can be made concerning the operations of police authorities, however this did not mean they were performing a poor stage business and providing a poor police service.Party politics were not injected onto the agenda. In fact, there was a good working relationship between the police authorities and the chief constables in many areas and the com munities and local policing benefited from this. (Joyce, P 2011). Ian Loader (2008) stated that the government is urged to take another ride on the law and order merry-go-round, to issue a fresh batch of crowd-pleasing-measures that can appease its manifestly angry and anxious consumers. Many will harmonize with this.The government is in need of public support, confidence and trust and the best way to get the local communities or customers support is to respond to our demands. As was mentioned above, the community would like more opportunities to get involved in the way their communities are being policed and the new reform of elected PCCs can be perceive as a crowd-pleasing-measure. (Citied in Loader, I 2008). Garland again has famously said that the policy-making has become profoundly politicized and populist.Policy measures are constructed in ways that value public opinion over the views of experts and the evidence of research. The dominant articulate of crime policy is no lo nger the expert or even the practitioner but that of the long-suffering, ill served people- especially the victim and the fearful, anxious members of the public. (Stated in The Culture of Control, 2001). Furthermore, a range of views were put forward on the role of PCCs from the consultation feedback and it was not all positive.Concerns have been expressed that a PCC, as a single individual, may not be efficacious across a whole force area and find it knockout to engage with communities sufficiently. Moreover, there was concerns received about the checks and balances proposed in the consultation. Some members believed that the arrangements might prove overly bureaucratic or create confusing lines of accountability for chief constables and the public. Others felt that they were too weak, or sought more distributor point on how the Police and Crime Panels (PCPs) would provide a real scrap and scrutiny. Citied in Theresa, M 2010). Many also expressed concerns about the political na ture of the role of the PCC and in particular the involvement of candidates supported by the main political parties. They believe this would risk cutting across the operational decisions made by chief constables and other police officers, and this would most decidedly inject party politics, whereby police authorities did not. Additionally, there needs to be appropriate and respectable safeguards to be put in place regarding to heap under which a PCC could dismiss or suspend a chief constable.These issues, if they were to ever occur, could create tension between PCCs and chief constables. The community will have a knock-on effect from this, as they would be the ones feeling the consequences. There would not be an adequate and efficient service provided to the community. That was the aim of PCCs and if it does not meet its own aims, it would fail dramatically. (Citied in Theresa, M 2010). It is fair to say police authorities and PCCs have issues to be concerned about but also have p ositive points.Police authorities and the 1964 Police Act did structure the police force and it did aim at providing an efficient and effective police force. This is consistently shown by the constant need to improve and advance the services being provided to the public . The 1994 Police and Magistrates Act, Courts Act (PMCA) 1995, the Police Act 1996, and the Police Reform Act 2002, the Policing Pledge 2008, have all endorsed the tripartite arrangements and aimed to fundamentally ensure and provide an adequate, efficient and effective police force.However, the demand for empowerment, localisation, decentralisation of power and community involvement perpetually grew stronger too and the police authorities did set priorities and standards nationally, and not locally. Research was undertaken in 2003 investigating the role of police authorities in public engagement. participants that were interviewed saw police authorities independence from the police force as very important. This was because of the risk of corruption or abuse of power. Youre paying.. its your community, you live there, so you should have a say in how its policed. (Home Office 2003 17). The community does desire to get involved in the decision making, however the pretermit of knowledge of police authorities and how you can get involved or the lack of liberation of empowerment and localisation should be questioned. (Citied in Home Office, 2003). The Coalition government 2012 decided to introduce PCCs. The ain of this reform was to to democratic accountability to the public and to put power directly in the hands of the public. (Home Affairs Committee, 2o1o10). In this case, the input from the public is greater and have greater local empowerment.However, PCC faces its problems too. It does face greater likelihood of policing corruption, a PCC, as a single individual, may not be effective across a whole force area and find it difficult to engage with communities sufficiently. 17 to 19 members are be ing replaced by one PCC. It is impossible imagine how one person can adequately represent the diverse demands of the vast range of communities and activities. In conclusion, the question still remains as to whether this reform was needed, the police authorities were not proving a poor service or doing a poor job.Garland (2001) would suggest that the policy-making has become profoundly politicized and populist. The introduction of PCC was just a populist measure. However, the local communities may benefit from the empowerment and local prioritisation and if they do, PCCs have succeeded their aims. References Blair, L. (2011), Speech in the House of Lords 27 April, HL Debs Session 2010-11, Vol 727, Col 137 Blunkett, David (2003) Civil Renewal A New agenda , London Home Office Brogden, M (1982), The Police Autonomy and take, London Academic Press. Emsley, C (1996), The English Police a policy-making and Social History, Harlow Longman. Flanagan, Sir Ronnie (Feb 2008) The Review of Pol icing Final Report. London Home Office Garland, D (2001), The Culture of Control. Oxford Oxford University Press. Home Affairs Committee, (2008). Policing in the twenty-first century, Seventh Report, Session 2007/08, House of Commons Paper 364, TSO, London. Joyce, P. (2011). Police reform from police authorities to police and crime commissioners. Sage, London. Loveday, B. (1994), The Police and Magistrates Courts Act.Policing 10(4), pp 221-233 Lustgarten, L. (1986), The arrangement of the Police, London Sweet &038 Maxwell. The Coalition Manifesto Our Programme for Government (May 2010) Theresa, M (2010). Policing in the 21st Century Reconnecting police and the people. Home Office Home Affairs Committee (2010), Policing police and crime commissioners, Second Report, Sessions 2010/11, House of Commons Paper 511, TSO, London. Bibliography David Cameron speech (19 July 2010) Our Big Society Agenda. London Home Office Date accessed 25 November 2012 http//www. conservatives. om/News/Spe eches/2010/07/David_Cameron_Our_Big_Society_Agenda. aspx Home Office (2003), The role of police authorities in public engagement Date Accessed 3 December 2012 http//library. npia. police. uk/docs/hordsolr/rdsolr3703. pdf Loader, I (2008). The great victim of this get-tough hyperactivity is Labour. The Guardian Date accessed 28 November 2012 http//www. guardian. co. uk/commentisfree/2008/jun/19/justice. ukcrime The Policing Pledge (2008). London Home Office Date Accessed 1 December 2012 http//www. met. police. uk/pledge/our_pledge_leaflet. pdf