In the Times, Sean O'Neill - Crime Editor, writes on the subject of ACPO and its relationship with the Conservative Party.
"It is now routine for Conservative spokesmen to rail against the extension of authoritarian police powers..........and to demand greater political control over forces."
The minute any government gains political control over the police is the day when we will finally have lost the last vestiges of our freedom, a situation prevalent in Soviet Russia and East Germany. The Conservative Party campaign on the fact they would instigate locally accountable police chiefs, which would initially appear a contradiction to the party's wish for greater political control. What is the point of an 'accountable' police chief if all he/she can do is 'rubber-stamp' policies issued by central government?
Writing on Conservative Home, Tim Montgomerie states that the arrival of elected police chiefs will be the beginning of the restoration of the public's confidence in police priorities. This is no more than yet another Conservative 'whitewash' of the real change that needs to be made. Until local people are given the right to elect a police chief with the power to run their police force in the manner they wish, to tackle crime how they wish, then there is not much to be gained by the election of another 'puppet'.
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