Police, Government and Accountability

285 Pages·1987·24.838 MB·English

by  Ian Oliver (auth.)

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.