Labour forced to ditch police elections plan
Author: The Guardian - Dec 18, 2008
The government has abandoned plans to make the police more accountable to local communities through direct elections because of opposition from senior officers, Labour council chiefs and concern that the proposals would politicise forces, the home secretary, Jacqui Smith, told the Guardian yesterday. Her decision to shelve the key part of the policing bill leaves government efforts to reform forces in limbo. Smith told the Guardian she had reluctantly removed the proposal for direct elections to the 43 police authorities in England and Wales from the police and criminal justice bill to be published today. She still supported the idea of directly elected members of police authorities to increase senior officers' accountability but said she recognised "this was the time to step back and look at again". The home secretary had been facing a growing revolt from within the police and from leaders of Labour-run local governments, worried that their influence over the police would be diluted. Go to the original article here
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