According to this news report the Police and Crime Panel for Hertfordshire has lost two of its members with one of the two, Elected Watford Mayor, Dorothy Thornhill explaining that police and crime panels equate to a “crocodile with rubber teeth”. Both of the Councillors have resigned because they feel that the Panel (PCP) which was established to scrutinise the work of the Police and Crime Commissioner has insufficient powers to achieve its objectives. It was clear from the outset that the legislation which created this panel and the Police Commissioners themselves contained many flaws and that a myriad of issues would emerge over time which should have been resolved during the process through which the bill was drawn up and scrutinised. Instead much the Parliamentary time was spent trying to force through concepts that many on both sides of the house lacked confidence in. As a result many of the details were not resolved despite the magnitude of this significant reform to policing.

Here in Sussex where I stood as Police and Crime Commissioner there is plenty of evidence that the PCP has failed to hold Katy Bourne, or Police Commissioner to account. One of the main functions of the panel is to scrutinise the budget that the Police and Crime Commissioner must prepare each year. Although Katy, or Commissioner Bourne as she appears to enjoy being called was elected promising to bring a strong business culture to the post and a robust financial understanding when it came to holding Sussex Police to account, that this did not extend to her own budget. The PCP raised concerns about the brevity of the budget which Ms Bourne submitted to them earlier this year but she made it clear that her rather superficial offering was the best that she intended to provide. The same is true of the impact that the Sussex PCP has had on the appointment of the deputy PCC that Katy chose. The Sussex PCP were opposed to Katy’s choice and also felt that she should have provided her deputy with an adequate job description. In any event yesterdays news that Steve Waight has resigned may well prove that the PCP were right after all, although it is unlikely that Katy will acknowledge this. It will be interesting to see if Katy submits her ideas more effectively as she searches for a replacement for Steve, or perhaps she will go it alone?

The challenge with the Police and Crime Panel as with any other statutory groups that work on our behalf is to ensure that the spirit as well as the letter of the law is applied to the arrangements. This legislation is not the first in history to be poorly scrutinised. It is clear that the intention was for the PCP to hold people like Katy Bourne to account in a robust manner. Although the legislation is lacking, it is clear that a robust level of scrutiny would be to the benefit of the local electors and their Police force as well the reputation of the Police and Crime Commissioner themselves. It is not beyond the ability of people like Katy Bourne to ensure that they are held to account, bearing in mind that the legislators clearly intended this. When I was canvassing to be elected I met with the chair of the then shadow PCP and several of the members to express my desire to work with them to ensure that they were able to access the resources they needed to scrutinise my work if I was elected. I proposed a regular meeting with the Chair and Vice Chair to help sustain this and we discussed other mechanisms that would ensure that the role of PCC was made accountable throughout the three and half year term. There is no appearance of this sort of activity by the current Police and Crime Commissioner for Sussex, but perhaps the electors of Sussex will do as Katy has asked and hold her to account through the ballot box in May 2016!