The coalition Government came to power with a long list of ideas and proposals that were intended to change the way in which services are delivered in local communities. Many of these were inspired by good intentions but few appear to have been thought through adequately. One by one many of these ideas have been drastically reformed or quietly removed from the To Do list, but one still to be resolved is on the desk of Nick Herbert, the Policing Minister. This relates to the creation of the grandly titled Police and Crime Commissioner (or PCC) which he is expected to launch in time for the local elections in May 2012. He has compared the role of a PCC to the way in which Boris Johnson has engaged with the Metropolitan Police. One of the Mayor’s early actions was to sack Sir Ian Blair as Metropolitan Police Commissioner (equivalent of Chief Constable) due to differences between them, more recently in the early stage of the London Riots with Croydon shops alight and commentators demanding some leadership Boris released a written statement ‘We have a massive programme of community engagement from City Hall’ so the example is not very encouraging.

The concept of the PCC is not very popular with many politicians in local government as this elected individual will replace the work of the existing Police Authorities on which Local Government Members dominate. The political focus of these bodies are moderated by Independent members who are drawn from the population at large and also from the ranks of the local Magistracy. Across the country the Police Authorities range in effectiveness, in part because some Independent members who are appointed by the Political members are more Independent than others. In Sussex the Independent members of the Police Authority that I have met perform a vital role in ensuring that the work of the Police Authority remains focused on the needs of the diverse local community without unnecessary recourse to party political issues. This is particularly important if the largest political party on the Authority sees its role to challenge the prevailing national policy on matters of party determined principles.

Whereas some of the ideas in the coalition manifesto have been widely supported by both sides, this is one proposal that many of the Liberal Democrats are unhappy with. The party are in something of a quandary as reported in the Guardian-on-line on Sunday (http://tinyurl.com/3nlb5gk). The party in Westminster are simultaneously fighting against the policy and searching for Lib Dem candidates willing to stand for these seats. The Lib Dems in Lewes however appear to be some way ahead of the national party in terms of their approach to the role. They are keen to prevent local party politics from impacting policing and should be commended for the stance they are taking. They are maintaining a position that is totally consistent in arguing against the principle of PCC’s yet stating that if the role is to be introduced it should be filled by someone who is free from any party political control. This was disclosed in a letter to The Argus on 22nd August by Councillor James MacCleary, leader of the Lewes group. James and I do not agree on everything but I fully support his view that party politicians should not be involved in this new role although sadly I suspect that this will not prevail across the country. Our policing needs to be free from party policy at a local level and instead focus on the need to protect all of our citizens from crime and its effects.

The only way that the Lewes Lib Dems can ensure that this is the case in Sussex is for them to campaign exclusively for Independent Candidates. I have written through the newspaper to  James asking him to confirm that this will be their tactic. I await his response with interest.