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John Smith says police reform is long overdue, and urges an injection of managerial culture into forces

A growing tension has been apparent between the two basic tenets of policing – operational independence and democratic accountability.

Both concepts are essential to policing in a democracy. No-one – or practically no-one – ever wants political interference in policing.

Equally, practically no-one believes the police should be allowed to go about citizens' business as the sole arbiter of what should be defined as operational – especially given the large increase in intrusive laws and creation of new offences, the consequent increase in police powers, and the increased likelihood of police-public friction.

To many people, the current system, whereby policing is increasingly conducted by large forces with the perceived inadequate oversight afforded by police authorities, is unsatisfactory.

At local level, policing, like education or social services, is essentially a local service. At national level, the present alphabet soup of acronyms has little real accountability.

When even The MJ's own White Van Man, normally a ‘lock ‘em up and throw away the key' enthusiast, has expressed his reservations about the police, we need to rethink how we are policed.

Some suggestions, such as elected police authorities or elected police commissioners, are so superficial that one wonders if they were thought up after a particularly convivial dinner, and scribbled on the back of a napkin.

A number of issues clearly need to be addressed, within what looks like a difficult resource regime. Among them are: