Almost buried beneath the heavy obligations of democracy across Britain – the devolved elections, council elections and mayoral elections on 5 May, all dwarfed by the EU referendum in June – there lies an under-appreciated orphan child, a political Cinderella: the vote for police and crime commissioners. Across England and Wales there are 41 contests for the individuals who embody the accountability of their local police service. Set up only four years ago, they wield serious and important powers; responsible for a total budget of £12.5bn, they shape policing priorities and instigate new ways of working, often in cooperation with other local services, knock heads together and innovate. They also, critically, have the final say in police leadership: they appoint, and they can sack, the chief constable. As the best of them have shown, this is a job that offers real influence in people’s day-to-day lives. It is also becoming woven into the subtle relationship between policing and the policed. It is a serious job that should be taken seriously.
The first generation of commissioners had an unenviable beginning. A Conservative policy reluctantly espoused by their Lib Dem coalition partners, they were elected in November 2012 in a standalone poll on a turnout of barely 15%. The new incumbents’ legitimacy was questionable and the calibre of successful candidates varied from classy to catastrophic. There were accusations of cronyism, some crass misjudgments and damaging episodes. The worst of these was the initial refusal of Shaun Wright, the South Yorkshire PCC, to resign in recognition of police failures over a decade of grooming in Rotherham, an episode that raised some hard and still unresolved questions about who guards the guardians of police accountability.
But with the next PCC election after these not due until 2020, these custodians are here at least into the next decade. For that reason alone, Labour is right to drop its opposition to them. That decision means the party is free to campaign on its record which, while not perfect, has produced some shining examples. Vera Baird in Northumbria has revolutionised approaches to domestic violence, while Tony Lloyd’s initiatives in Greater Manchester (where the job will be subsumed into the new mayor’s duties) have led to new, integrated, approaches to mentally ill people and in particular to rough sleepers.
Nor is it only Labour that has innovated: the variety of experience and the fragmenting of central diktat has led to useful innovation in many places – joint working with housing associations in Dyfed, for example, and with young people in Essex and the West Midlands. All this has been achieved against soaring new demands to tackle child sexual exploitation, cybercrime and counter-terrorism while also accommodating cuts of 25% since 2010.
Against expectation, PCCs have delivered at least as much as has been lost by abolishing the dysfunctional old police authorities, not least in terms of costs. But in many parts of England and Wales, they are a long way from feeling embedded in their local landscape. Having the poll at the same time as other elections this time round will boost turnout, although at a cost: it is unlikely independent candidates, who won a quarter of the jobs last time, will prosper in a more political climate, while it is already clear that diversity is suffering if only from neglect. There are fewer women and almost no black and minority ethnic candidates, a situation that if allowed to persist could undermine the whole basis of policing by consent.
Nor is there a sense of engagement in the debate about how the accountability of the PCC, at the moment provided by police and crime panels, should develop in a way that avoids jeopardising the executive powers that the best PCCs say have been important in getting things done. There are contentious plans in the latest home office legislation for enforced local mergers of fire and police services that, as Labour argues, would be done more effectively through evolution. Police accountability is a defining characteristic of a democracy. The way we do it is part of who we are as a nation. So make it matter.
