COUNTY COUNCIL RESPONSE TO POLICING GREEN PAPER

The Policing Green Paper "From the Neighbourhood to the National: Policing our Communities Together" http://files.homeoffice.gov.uk/police/policing_green_paper.pdf

was published on Thursday 17 July 2008 and has three key themes:

· Empowering citizens - the aim is to improve the connection between the public and Police

· Professionalising and freeing up the Police - the aim is to reduce bureaucracy and develop technology; define roles and leadership in the Police service; and focus on development and deployment

· Strategic role for Government - the aim is to co-ordinate change in policing; reinforce collaboration between forces; and improve performance in policing


The Cabinet considered a proposed response to the Green paper on 22 September 2008. The Cabinet felt that whilst the above themes were acceptable in general terms and the proposed reduction of bureaucracy was to be welcomed, some areas of the Paper were controversial and a cause for concern such as the proposed governance arrangements for the Police Authority and the creation of Crime and Policing Representatives, the short term nature of funding and proposals which could undermine partnership working between the police and local government.

During the course of agreeing the final response, the Cabinet expressed a number of concerns:

· that in terms of the democratic responsibilities of the Police Authority, the role of elected members was not being given sufficient weight and if the proposals were implemented, could lead to a reduced number of local authority Members being able to serve on the Policy Authority


· disappointed at the lack of clarity of how the proposed police inspection regime will interface with the emerging Comprehensive Area Assessment framework

· expressed reservations about the proposal for a `top down' approach to develop convergence plans for IT


· did not agree with the three- year fixed term funding proposal for the continuation of Police Community Support Officers (PCSO) rather than making the funding permanent; fixed term funding creates difficulties when the term ends and if during that period further funding has not been agreed, there would be a potential impact on local taxpayers or the risk that the service would be discontinued

The County Council's full response is available on the website: http://www.hants.gov.uk/decisions/decisions-docs/080922-cabine-R1010184148.html