The policing mission

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ePolitix.com reports from the policing fringe at Manchester where shadow home secretary Alan Johnson discussed the government's plans to cut the police budget by 25 per cent and introduce directly elected Police Commissioners.

At a fringe meeting hosted by ACPO, The Police Federation of England & Wales and the Police Superintendents' Association of England & Wales, the discussion focused on the government's plans to cut the police budget by 25 per cent and introduce directly elected Police Commissioners.

The chair opened the debate saying there had been great success in policing over the last decade but the question was what effect the cuts would have and how could the cost of electing police commissioners be justified.

Sir Hugh Orde agreed that policing had been working and that whilst there wasn't a sense of doom and gloom, there were some real challenges to face up to. He said that whatever the cuts were, the police would continue to protect front-line service delivery.

The police would do what it could to maximise opportunities of working together to drive forward efficiency, but there would be some difficult choices to be made.

Orde highlighted the complexity of the policing mission, saying that whilst investment had increased year on year, so had the police's mission with the developments in e-crime and more complex international crime.

He commented that much of the excellence in policing is because many areas are dealt with in a bespoke way.

On the question of accountability he said that whilst the government had a political mandate, the police had an absolute right to expect clarity about how the new structures would work. Operational independence was fundamental he said and there was a question about how this would mesh with elected commissioners.

The public spending squeeze meant that there would inevitably be fewer officers, but the challenge would be to maximise them. One of the ways of saving money he said would be to re-organise and this issue would have to be revisited in the future.

Paul McKeever from the Police Federation said that crime was at its lowest in 30 years and that despite the economic climate he was optimistic about the future.

He said there was still a debate to be had about the future of policing and that nothing was written in stone. His organisation was not particularly excited about the prospect of elected commissioners. In addition his membership of over 140,000 police officers were also facing threats to their numbers, pay, conditions and pensions.

McKeever stressed the importance of having independence but how they would be held to account was not for the police themselves to say.

He was astonished that the government was talking about 25 per cent cuts to police budgets and could not understand why policing was not included in the lower tranche of spending cuts. His organisation had started to get information about these cuts would mean in reality and as a result they couldn't stay out of the debate until the comprehensive spending review.

Merseyside police were looking at losing 800 officers; West Midlands might lose 1000, and the picture was the same picture right across the country. It was estimated that 40,000 police officers could be lost across the country with other policing staff also at risk.

He was concerned that the most vulnerable in society would be hit hardest by the cuts and he asked those attending the meeting to support his organisation in calling on the government to bring the level of cuts down.

Derek Barnett from the Police Superintendents' Association said that policing had reached a pivotal moment - there would be some very significant changes in oversight and funding but this would bring opportunities as well. Policing structures may be radically different but that didn't necessarily mean they would be worse.

On oversight and governance he recognised that the current tripartite arrangements had failed and did not provide the right accountability. It was the duty of government to govern he said that the Police could not be party political so they would accept the outcome of the Policing Bill and the CSR and would make any new arrangements work.

He didn't accept the premise that the police were disconnected with police arguing that whilst some police authorities may not be visible, many were. Chief Constables were held to account he argued.

On elected commissioners he said that the government had recognised his organisation's concerns and had acknowledged that it would be a fundamental change.

On funding he said he would await the outcome of CSR but that nobody in policing expected or believed that the police shouldn't take their fair share of cuts. He said the police could improve the procurement and share resources. Beyond efficiencies at this level it was inevitable that front-line services would be affected.

He highlighted the importance of police in communities and their responsibility to protect the vulnerable. He also said that the police had a duty to highlight the important issues to government.

In conclusion he said that the police service was a can-do organisation. They would work more efficiently, collaboratively, and more effectively with private sector.

Shadow home secretary Alan Johnson opened by discussing a deal he had done with the Treasury that policingand counter-terrorism would be a priority.

He said that policing had worked and that in cities like Manchester people cared about policing and things had been made to change.

Prior to the election, £1.3bn of savings (12 per cent of the budget) had already been identified and an HMIC report had said efficiencies were made this saving could be achieved without affecting front line services.

He stressed the importance of making policing a priority highlighting the Canadian case where policing budgets were maintained whilst the government tackled the country's deficit.

The current difficulty was that policing funding was being reduced at the same time as police powers on DNA and CCTV were being restricted.

On elected commissioners he said he couldn't imagine Manchester having one commissioner for the whole area. The government started its consultation on this issue in July for just 8 weeks.

He suggested that the chair of the Police Authority could be elected but that the rest of the Authority should remain the same. The election process alone was going to cost over £100m which was the equivalent of 600 police officers.

Johnson said that the government had got itself into a difficult situation on elected police commissioners and he hoped that with effective political opposition