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Police, Government and Accountability PDF

285 Pages·1987·24.838 MB·English
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POLICE, GOVERNMENT AND ACCOUNTABILITY By the same author THE METROPOLITAN POLICE APPROACH TO THE PROSECUTION OF JUVENILE OFFENDERS Police, Government and Accountability Ian Oliver Chief Constable Central Scotland Police Foreword by Sir Robert Mark M © Ian Oliver 1987 Foreword © Sir Robert Mark 1987 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended). Any person who does arry unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. First published 1987 Published by THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG2l 2XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Oliver, Ian Thomas Police, government and accountability. 1. Police-Great Britain-Central and local government I. Title 363.2'0941 HV7936.C6 ISBN 978-0-333-43226-6 ISBN 978-1-349-18557-3 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-18557-3 Contents Foreword by Sir Robert Mark Vlll Acknowledgements x PART I THE CONSTITUTIONAL POSITION OF THE POLICE IN GREAT BRITAIN 1 Introduction 3 2 The Royal Commission on the Police 1962 8 2.1 Reasons for Setting up the Royal Commission 8 2.2 Terms of Reference and Declared Objectives of the Royal Commission 10 2.3 The Evolution of the Modern Police Service 12 2.4 The Purposes of the Police and their Constitutional Position 13 2.5 The Traditional Status of the Police 16 2.6 The Control of the Police 18 2.7 The Police Authority 26 2.8 The Secretaries of State 29 2.9 The Chief Constable 31 2.10 Summary 34 PART II THE ACCOUNTABILITY OF POLICE TO LOCAL AND CENTRAL GOVERNMENT 3 Local Government 37 3.1 Introduction 37 3.2 Responsibilities of the Police Authority 39 3.3 The Role of the Chief Constable in Relation to Local Government 41 3.4 The Functions of Police Authorities since 1964 46 3.5 The Bains Report 50 3.6 The Effect of Party Politics on the Police Authority and on the Chief Constable's Position 55 3.7 The Financial Influence of Councils Over Police Authorities 58 v vi Contents 3.8 Post-Bains Development in the Role of the Police Authorities 60 3.9 The Police Authorities (Powers) Bills 68 3.10 The Police and the Public 75 3.11 Consultation and Accountability 78 3.12 The Emergence of Policing as a Political Issue 86 3.13 One Man's View of the Future 93 4 Central Government 96 4.1 Introduction 96 4.2 The Exercise of Powers and Responsibilities by the Secretaries of State 99 4.3 Conclusion 111 4.4 Summary 112 PART III POLICE AND GOVERNMENT IN NORTHERN IRELAND 5 A Brief History 115 6 The Police in Northern Ireland 124 6.1 The Royal Ulster Constabulary 124 6.2 The Ulster Special Constabulary 131 7 The Police Act (Northern Ireland) 1970 134 8 The Police Authority for Northern Ireland 136 9 The Role of the Army in Northern Ireland 148 10 The Primacy of the Police 158 PART IV THE METROPOLITAN POLICE 11 Description, Officials and Finance 169 11.1 Introduction 169 11.2 The Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis 170 11.3 The Home Secretary 173 11.4 Financing the Metropolitan Police 180 11.5 The Receiver for the Metropolitan Police District 181 12 Proposals for a New Police Authority for London 188 12.1 Introduction 188 12.2 The Proposed Structure and Composition of the Police Authority 192 12.3 The Proposed Role of the Commissioner 193 12.4 The Proposed Role of the Receiver 193 12.5 Comment on the Proposals 194 Contents vii 13 Compulsory Consultation between the Police and the Community 198 13.1 Introduction 198 13.2 Arrangements in the Metropolitan Police District 199 13.3 Summary 202 PART V AN ASSESSMENT OF ACCOUNTABILITY AS IT OPERATES IN THE 1980s 14 Introduction 207 15 The Operation of Some Police Authorities 208 15.1 Reprise 208 15.2 Error 209 15.3 The 1984-5 Miners' Strike 210 15.4 The National Reporting Centre 211 15.5 Mutual Aid 212 15.6 Conflict in Greater Manchester 213 15.7 Conflict in South Yorkshire 215 15.8 Existing Remedies in the Event of Conflict 220 16 Considerations Regarding National or Regional Police Forces 222 17 The Continuing Role of Police Authorities and Proposals for Structural Change 226 18 Conclusions 237 Notes and References 244 Bibliography 266 Index 272 Foreword Sir Robert Mark There is in this country a long-lasting belief that our system of justice -law-makers, police and courts - works reasonably well. It is thought appropriate for dealing with all known forms of wrongdoing. It still uses the same methods to deal with offences as far apart as murder and unlawful street parking. There has been very little attempt to amend that obviously unsatisfactory and illogical situation. largely because the success achieved in relation to the minute amount of newsworthy crime, perhaps 2 or 3 per cent of the whole, obscures its failure to deal with crime generally. Today the public is gradually becoming aware that the police and courts have only limited relevance to the vast total of crimes against property such as burglary and theft. Belief in the effectiveness of the law is being replaced by reliance on prevention, insurance and compensation. Our generally accepted concept of liberty under the law has now extended to the freedom to steal and to misbehave in other ways with a high degree of immunity from any adverse judicial consequences. The police, greater in numbers than ever before, better organised, better equipped and better trained not surprisingly regard prevention and containment of wrongdoing as their highest priority. In theory, that has always been so, but the trend of postwar years has given added meaning and urgency to that policy. The problem is most acute in the field of public disorder arising from political dissent, industrial disputes, racial tension and mindless hooliganism. Police behaviour in dealing with the latter will always provoke strong criticism if applied to those involved in the former. Courts, faced with controversy where there should be unanimity. are often unable to demonstrate deterrence or punishment. In these circumstances the role of the police in preventing or containing public disorder has become the most important of their activities, if only because there is no other agency in our society capable of achieving it. Consequently, there is now much political debate about the control or accountability of the police. particularly after the attempts in recent years to resolve industrial disputes by blatantly unlawful violence and intimidation. The issue has been discussed from time to time, notably by the 1962 Royal Commission on the Police and by viii Foreword ix two distinguished Oxford academics, Sir Norman Chester and Dr Geoffrey Marshall, but informed comment by the police has been inadequate. This book, which addresses the issues without overemphasising the more newsworthy side of police activity, is particularly welcome. The author, Dr Ian Oliver, a Scottish chief constable with long service in the Metropolitan Police, demonstrates a combination of scholarship and practicality. His experience of police authorities as varied as the Home Secretary and a Scottish police committee has enabled him to appreciate the differing political approaches to the problem he examines and to present them to the reader from a police standpoint. I have no doubt that public order and police accountability will be two of the most anxiously debated subjects of the next decade. Such discussion should reflect fact rather than ill-informed opinion or assumption. This book will help lay the groundwork for a better understanding of the present-day reality of the police and their function. It offers an informed and authoritative contribution to that debate.

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