An interesting debate emerging over who runs the country.Police Chiefs are perhaps understandably miffed over critical comment around the initial handling of the Tottenham riots & the advice being sought from Bill Bratton from New York & have sought to reassert their control over matters operational.No one is seriously suggesting that the PM or Ministers should micro manage Police operations, but the opposite view being put forward by very senior Officers is that Politicians are irrelevant to the operations of day to day policing is equally misguided.It's a dangerous path to tread - Ministers are appointed to make decisions & if Sir Hugh Ord believes that Officers can legitimately ignore the Prime Minister he might just want to take a reality check.At a local level politicians have considerable influence over policing matters through Police Authorities, soon to morph into a Police Commissioner, but decisions as to who to deploy when & where on any particular day remains an operational matter.Me thinks some Officers protest to much - there is a fair question to be asked why they appeared to be caught with their overalls down when the riots first started & few would dispute the right of the Prime Minister to order a change in policy if a strategy was either wrong or demonstrably did not have public support.We have policing by consent in England & we vest considerable power in the government to oversee matters such as law & order.Police Chiefs might usefully remember that they work for us through our elected representatives!
