Independent Police Commission

Yesterday the Independent Police Commission launched its report, Policing for a Better Britain. The launch took place at the Royal Society for the Arts where the Report was presented to the Leader of the Opposition, Ed Miliband, and Shadow Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, who set up the Commission in 2011.

Chaired by former Metropolitan Police Commissioner Lord Stevens, the Commission brought together leading figures from the police, academia, business and civil society to tackle the deep challenges that confront the police today. Over two years, it have held witness hearings and public meetings, surveyed police officers, staff and the public, and commissioned over 30 background papers. The result has been the most extensive examination of the police service in England & Wales since the 1962 Royal Commission.

Ian Loader, a member of the Commission and one of its Editorial Team, commented: ‘In effect, we have been the Royal Commission on the Police for which many have been calling. Our report sets out a bold and radical vision of how to deliver better policing in straitened times. Our vision is of a police service that is professional, democratically accountable and serving the common good. We set out a new deal for police officers and staff combining reform of working conditions with fairness at work. We outline measures to forge the police into a profession including a new role of chartered police officer. We propose a new Independent Police Standards Commission to deal effectively with complaints and raise standards. We make proposals to clear-up the mess that is police procurement and lay out principles to guide police collaboration with the private sector.  The golden thread of our report is that local policing is the cornerstone of policing by consent. We propose a radical localisation of policing in England & Wales.’

A copy of the Report can be found here: Policing for a Better Britain

A book containing the background papers has also been published by Routledge - J. Brown (ed) The Future of Policing. It includes essays by Ian Loader and Ben Bradford.