Bobbies on the beat could be made to answer to ‘policing politicians' as part of the Government's new Green Paper launched today (Thursday). As The MJ went to press, a local government insider predicted the Green Paper would propose ‘directly-elected representatives of policing' who would be appointed to control the work of local police forces. The idea echoes calls from communities secretary, Hazel Blears, for directly-elected mayors to take control of local policing services in a bid to make forces more accountable. The MJ was also told the Green Paper would propose police forces have bureaucracy ‘champions' to help drive out the red tape which has dogged the work of police authorities in recent years. The Local Government Information Unit's chief executive, Andy Sawford, is sceptical of the proposals and thinks local authority staff will need convincing. ‘My concern is also that if you have a policing councillor representing a whole district area, that is still quite removed from communities,' he said. ‘Also, who will stand – and on what basis? I think local authority chief executives will take a lot of convincing on this.' London Councils executive member for crime and public protection, Cllr Jason Stacey, said: ‘Local accountability must mean police forces are given the flexibility to direct their attention to local issues rather than having to focus on national targets which have no real impact on the lives of their local communities.'
