THE THIN BLUE LINE RALLIES
(Or, "Why Cumbria should keep our own police force."
At one stage it looked as though the proposal that Cumbria should lose our own police force, as part of a rationalisation into huge regional police forces, would go through without much of a fight.
However, all the police authorities have refused to meekly submit proposals for their own abolition by the required deadline. And I am grateful to Simon Jenkins in the Guardian for the most damning quote opposing the regionalisation of police forces in England and Wales.
A very prominent politician once described the idea of scrapping the existing 43 police forces and replacing them with larger regional forces as "the most determined and least popular attempt ever made to centralise policing in Britain, to give ministers unprecedented control over the way that the police do their work, and to undermine police independence. It is driven not just by short-term cost-cutting, but by an ideology that resents local freedom, and has an aversion bordering on paranoia to local government." Anyone proposing such a policy should be put "in a padded cell with his arms stuck behind his back while he was examined by a range of psychoanalysts".
And who said this ? Tony Blair, as shadow Home Secretary in opposition back in 1994, referring to a similar (but less extreme) proposal to the one his own government is promoting now.
Yesterday the airwaves were full of talk of the government’s “respect” agenda, with various new powers and offences. But most of the types of anti-social behaviour described are already criminal – the problem is enforcing the laws we already have. If I thought making the police less local was likely to help this I would be all in favour of it, but I really can’t see that.
One of the strengths of British policing is that it is local. I remain convinced that policing a community in a way which relates to local people and reflects their needs is easier if you are accountable to someone sufficiently near to be accessible than in a system where everything is controlled nationally.
None of the 43 police forces complied with the government’s deadline to submit plans for mergers. And anyone who is concerned about good policing in England and Wales should welcome this - including those who consider that the present structure of 43 police forces may not be perfect.
Keeping the local link is particularly sensitive in rural areas such as Cumbria. We have just lost or are in danger of losing our own regiment, our local fire control centre, while both our community and District General Hospitals may be adversely affected by health reviews. Being forced to merge our local police force into some huge organisation covering most of the North West would fit into the same pattern of continuing loss of local control and accountability, if not an actual run down of services.
From the statements made by the Association of Police Authorities, I have the impression that some police authorities think the mergers which Charles Clarke is trying to push through are a bad idea, while others are not necessarily opposed to the principle but want more time to come up with good proposals. Obviously all have agreed that none of them would meet the deadline: if some authorities had submitted proposals at the time requested this would have made it easier for the Labour government to use “Divide and Rule” tactics to pick off those who refused.
By refusing to meekly ask “How high?” when the government says “Jump!” the police authorities have shown a welcome independence and made more likely a proper debate.
At one stage it looked as though the proposal that Cumbria should lose our own police force, as part of a rationalisation into huge regional police forces, would go through without much of a fight.
However, all the police authorities have refused to meekly submit proposals for their own abolition by the required deadline. And I am grateful to Simon Jenkins in the Guardian for the most damning quote opposing the regionalisation of police forces in England and Wales.
A very prominent politician once described the idea of scrapping the existing 43 police forces and replacing them with larger regional forces as "the most determined and least popular attempt ever made to centralise policing in Britain, to give ministers unprecedented control over the way that the police do their work, and to undermine police independence. It is driven not just by short-term cost-cutting, but by an ideology that resents local freedom, and has an aversion bordering on paranoia to local government." Anyone proposing such a policy should be put "in a padded cell with his arms stuck behind his back while he was examined by a range of psychoanalysts".
And who said this ? Tony Blair, as shadow Home Secretary in opposition back in 1994, referring to a similar (but less extreme) proposal to the one his own government is promoting now.
Yesterday the airwaves were full of talk of the government’s “respect” agenda, with various new powers and offences. But most of the types of anti-social behaviour described are already criminal – the problem is enforcing the laws we already have. If I thought making the police less local was likely to help this I would be all in favour of it, but I really can’t see that.
One of the strengths of British policing is that it is local. I remain convinced that policing a community in a way which relates to local people and reflects their needs is easier if you are accountable to someone sufficiently near to be accessible than in a system where everything is controlled nationally.
None of the 43 police forces complied with the government’s deadline to submit plans for mergers. And anyone who is concerned about good policing in England and Wales should welcome this - including those who consider that the present structure of 43 police forces may not be perfect.
Keeping the local link is particularly sensitive in rural areas such as Cumbria. We have just lost or are in danger of losing our own regiment, our local fire control centre, while both our community and District General Hospitals may be adversely affected by health reviews. Being forced to merge our local police force into some huge organisation covering most of the North West would fit into the same pattern of continuing loss of local control and accountability, if not an actual run down of services.
From the statements made by the Association of Police Authorities, I have the impression that some police authorities think the mergers which Charles Clarke is trying to push through are a bad idea, while others are not necessarily opposed to the principle but want more time to come up with good proposals. Obviously all have agreed that none of them would meet the deadline: if some authorities had submitted proposals at the time requested this would have made it easier for the Labour government to use “Divide and Rule” tactics to pick off those who refused.
By refusing to meekly ask “How high?” when the government says “Jump!” the police authorities have shown a welcome independence and made more likely a proper debate.
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