Hard to turn the coppers round

摘要

It is the hot new idea: local services ought to be accountable to local people. And everyone seems to agree that the police are a public service ripe for reform. Combine the two, and you get the government and both main opposition parties all pushing the same way, for local oversight of the men in blue. The Liberal Democrats aim, vaguely, to put them under regional control; the Conservatives want neighbourhood sheriffs. Labour proposes elected "police boards" and community advocates to keep chief constables on their toes.