Are police commissioners all visibility and no substance, asks Birmingham academic
Prof Amann adds: “What all these individuals had in common, apart from the fact that they were politically independent and could therefore speak independently, was that they had actually run large organisations in either the private or public sectors.
“They had spent part of their lives managing boards, and were not at this stage of their careers disposed to having the wool pulled over their eyes or being fobbed off.
“In all the national discussion leading up to the decision to create a system of directly elected police and crime commissioners, one key point has never, to my knowledge, been openly admitted, let alone written down. In the spirit of frankness, the time has come to set the record straight.
“It was the independent members, together with some elected members and supported by a few talented policy officers from the office, who drove through changes over several years that finally began to transform the prevailing culture from within.”
He adds that the pro-active commissioning of policy papers from the force, which highlighted the areas of significant public interest that members wanted to scrutinise and included precise requests for supporting data, helped to build trust with senior police officers and “elevated discussion to an entirely new level, based on real knowledge”.
Prof Amann continues: “As, year by year, the pack of elected members was reshuffled, new members were very soon disabused of any preconceptions they might have entertained about police authorities being cosy sinecures.
“Put on their mettle, many of them stepped up to the plate and, drawing on their own distinctive skills and political connections, made a significant input. In that way a creative balance was achieved.
“During its final year, meetings of the full police authority—at which there was now genuine debate and sharp questioning of the chief constable —were regularly attracting a large public audience and quite extensive media coverage. Ironically, nothing so became the police authority as its passing.”
