As part of a Parliamentary Debate Anne has asked the Government to reject the Tory Policy of elected police commissioners and instead focus the money on getting police officers onto the street. She made reference to the resignation of David Davis MP.

Anne Snelgrove (South Swindon) (Lab): Will my right hon. Friend reject the policy of making police into politicians? Some Opposition Members love calling unnecessary expensive elections, but does she agree that public accountability is much better served by seeing police on the beat, with good funding and leadership from the Government, not by gimmicks?

Jacqui Smith: I do agree with my hon. Friend, although I look forward later to welcoming back friends who have been absent over the past month or so. My hon. Friend makes an important point. Answerability and accountability start at the neighbourhood; they start with the investment that the Government have put in and the reform that police forces have introduced to deliver neighbourhood policing teams in every community that have the ability, through local meetings and talking directly to members of the public, to allow local people’s priorities to be fed into what happens locally. That is supported by the proposals that we will put forward in the Green Paper to enable directly elected voices on police authorities to make sure that local priorities can also be reflected at a strategic level in each police force.

On elected police commissioners Jacqui Smith said: “I do not believe that it is clear that one elected representative who is distant from their local community is best way to achieve the visible and responsive policing that we want.”

Link to Debate

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2008-07-14a.10.0