Who runs the police?

In Britain, we had a careful balance – to ensure Chief Constables, local communities and central Government all played a role.

That balance was important. To respond to local issues, everyone felt the police must work closely with communities. Ministers needed to be involved – they provided most of the budget and reviewed national laws. Police chiefs had operational control: no-one wanted a country where politicians could directly order the police about.

Two years ago, David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, changed all that. Blunkett took new powers to intervene – to impose his will on all police authorities and commanders.

Typically, the “spin” was the reverse. Parliament was told these were “reserve” powers – rarely to be used. Actually, Ministers insisted, they wanted to give away power – perhaps with direct elections to police boards.

Now we see the truth. In Humberside, the Home Secretary is using the powers to get the Chief Constable sacked. It’s a complex case – involving mistakes linked to the Soham inquiry and evidence that Humberside police was under-performing.

Yet whatever the rights and wrongs of this case, do we really want a country, where the Home Secretary has the power to sack police commanders? If we do, what will happen to police independence? What will happen to local accountability?

Blunkett has damaged a careful balance – and in the process done lasting damage to our police.