Following the home secretary's u-turn on directly elected policing representatives, David Prince offers some New Year's resolutions for everyone involved in policing New Year resolutions abound for sharpening policing accountability, but how many will survive January, let alone come to fruition? Santa came early to Police Authorities when the Home Secretary u-turned on imposing directly elected members, but she firmly stuck to the principle as the best way to increase the accountability of senior officers. The LGA and APA have scant time to prove how strengthening the current police authority system will deliver the better approach, as they shrewdly claimed. Yes, existing elected councillor members can better connect with other services, but promises of better support and more effective scrutiny must materialise fast. Despite unified lobbying by both bodies their national party big-wigs remain convinced that all the arguments about politicisation or take-over by extremists were over-egged, and merely self-serving protection of existing members' allowances. All parties still quest the holy grail of electing either the sheriff or the posse. In cold January light the pre-Christmas pantomimes starring Damien Green and Boris Johnson are viewed in proportion. They graphically illustrate the real issues - where should accountability lie when, to be effective, policing must work through a maze of partnerships in neighbourhoods, whilst delivering national priorities and increasing value to taxpayers? How can policing and politics reinforce each other in maintaining public confidence? Here's six resolutions: • Councils – select more rigorously your members nominated onto Police Authorities, and appraise attendance and contribution, particularly how effectively they link to partnerships and other council services. When councillors up their game, direct elections will stop sounding sensible to people in the street. • Council leaders – inject oomph into your Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships. Kick-start them from no-action-talk-only meetings into all-partner delivery on the ground, alongside the police. Knit democratic community leadership with targeted actions by local police commanders and other public bodies, producing visible outcomes that local people value. As Leaders, or cabinet members, personally chair your CDRPs. Ensure their work is mainstreamed, not just into your councils' plans but into delivery priorities. Visibly link their aims and achievements to your wider communications, so putting CDRPs prominently into the public domain. • Police Authorities – seize the initiative. Reprioritise and reinvent your roles and working methods, just as the best councils leaped ahead of CPA. Many have made great strides in meeting what the new joint Audit Commission and HMIC inspections teams will expect by 2010. Others must urgently reinvigorate consultation and re-energise scrutiny to match the Inspectorates' currently proposed benchmark of ‘making a difference' in securing the policing priorities in their area. Effectiveness in leadership, performance management and scrutiny will all be under the microscope, and publicly reported within CAA. All Authorities face an increasingly uphill battle as the economic situation squeezes available resources and triggers rising levels of acquisitive crime and disorder. But there is a great opportunity for a bolder and more single-minded approach, focussing on strategic policing priorities and risks, and on holding to account both the police managers and all local crime partnerships. That way, you will demonstrate what the LGA and LPA claim as your inherent strength - linking democratic government with effective scrutiny of police performance and productivity, and doing it at both neighbourhood and authority levels. • Inspectorates – deliver your welcome promise of risk-based and proportionate inspection of Police Authorities. Resist needless complexity. Avoid engendering gamesmanship, defensiveness and sterile number crunching. Field authoritative and confident inspection teams, whose judgements on the subtleties of relationships and partnership working command respect, and win hearts and minds for real improvement. • Chief constables- actively promote the spirit of the new Policing Pledge, not just the letter. Better neighbourhood policing has given you hard-won public plaudits. Next, let local people experience greater management discretion and flexibility by local beat officers in responding to neighbourhood needs and circumstances. Give priority to training and confidence building for all your front-line staff, especially management development and support for the all-important sergeants and inspectors. Their performance is key to front-line policing style and customer service. • The Home Office – let a thousand flowers bloom. Avoid unnecessary structural distractions and top-down initiatives. Good luck, everyone!. You'll need it, but keeping these resolutions in 2009 will deliver results – and avoid unhappiness in 2010. David Prince is former chief executive of the Standards Board for England
