Police and Crime Commissioners by Caless Bryn Owens Jane

Author:Caless, Bryn, Owens, Jane [Caless, Bryn, Owens, Jane]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Criminology
ISBN: 9781447320692
Google: c-TDCwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Policy Press
Published: 2016-03-30T05:30:20+00:00

Summary

This chapter has explored some of the significant partnerships of Police and Crime Commissioners with the Home Office, the Home Secretary and HMIC. It has also noted relationships with ACPO and now the NPCC, and touched very briefly on relationships with the College of Policing and the IPCC. CSPs and other partnerships at a local and parochial level also exist, and some PCCs might argue that these are the really important ones, since they impact (perhaps) on the day-to-day community work which is the PCCs’ primary focus, rather than the vaguer and broader national picture. It is at least possible that organisations at local levels can have a significant influence on the Police and Crime Commissioner. Without the continued support and guidance of partners of all kinds, PCCs would be much less informed and supported in their roles of being responsible for the ‘totality of policing’, providing the voice of the people and holding the police to account (APCC, 2015b).

Control and influence have emerged as significant themes for this chapter; the PCCs’ relationships with their partners appear to be mostly strong, however it has been noted that some are indifferent and some border on the superficial. Comments concerning the personalities with whom they sit down to work, were made by many PCCs and this perhaps reflects the general air of honesty that PCCs and chief police officers alike afforded us in our investigations. Throughout the research for this book, both during interviews and through an exploration of the written word by academics, on websites and in legislation; the word ‘independent’ has appeared in many guises and with varying levels of emphasis. Some posturing came from PCCs keen to state that they are now in control. The Home Office and Home Secretary have issued statements to support this independence and limited evidence supports the Home Secretary’s reassurance to PCCs that she does not want to ‘step on their toes’. The reality of those relationships has been difficult to fully evaluate. Although an interview with the Home Secretary was requested a number of times, we were not granted a meeting. There is, though, some evidence to demonstrate that the relationship between the Home Office and PCCs is moving, at a glacial pace, towards shared goals and outcomes, in the interests of the public they both serve.

Research into the PCCs’ relationship with HMIC has elicited a similar picture, although it was evident that there was less direct involvement and only limited partnership working. Some PCCs had little to do with HMIC while others valued its contribution to effective scrutiny of their forces. Personalities appeared to play a role in whether or not HMIC was considered to be of value. Axiomatically, it would benefit both parties if a shared understanding of how they can collaborate and work together more effectively could be achieved, as originally recommended in the Policing Protocol (2011).

PCCs focus most on their communities: not only is this where their legitimacy as elected representatives comes from, it is also where the PCC has focused the Police and Crime Plans for his or her force.

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