Quote:
Originally Posted by yorkie_chris
They are still subject to enforcing the law of the land, might even be a good thing.
I'd guess the police know more about crime than politicians...
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True, but the laws of the land are passed by politicians so the separation of politics and policing is impossible (unless you want the police drafting laws and creating their own powers).
Politicians shouldn't be involved in specific investigations - who to arrest, who to charge, who to release. The PCC's won't be doing that.
But politicians can, and should, decide what the overall priorities should be. In principle I see no reason why those decisions could not best be made locally, from an identifiable source that is subject to scrutiny and can be re-elected or booted out based on their record by the citizens who are directly affected.
Police resources are finite so choices need to be made. Do you police the towns in favour of the countryside? Do you target burglary, street drinking, motoring, vandalism? These decisions need to be made anyway. Personally I'd like to know who is making them and, if I don't like the decisions, I'd like to be able to do something about it.