Policing and Crime Bill, with oversight and transparency reforms, goes to Commons unlikely to face much opposition

Theresa May's Policing and Crime Bill has a stated aim of improving disciplinary and complaints systems, along with the Inspectorate, in order to improve public confidence in the Police.  Photograph: Police Motorbike from Pixabay (License) (Cropped)

In Parliament today, Home Secretary Theresa May presents her Policing and Crime Bill to the Commons for its first formal vote (Parliament, 2016). With a Conservative majority, its passage at this stage should be just a formality - particularly when English Votes for English Laws is applied. That only makes it all the more important for those outside of Parliament to pay particularly close attention.

The government claim the bill will 'finish the job' of police reform (Home Office & May, 2016). Included in its aims are reforming the police disciplinary and complaints systems, strengthening 'the independence of HM Inspectorate of Constabulary', increasing protections for people with mental health problems, allowing chief officers to "confer a wider range of powers on police staff and volunteers", and introducing a requirement for 'suspected foreign nationals to produce a nationality document'.

While moves to increase oversight and accountability are always welcome, along with further considerations for mental health, elements of the bill have faced some criticism. For instance, the expansion of volunteers in police service with police powers has raised some concerns (BBC, 2016) - with suggestions that it may be an artificial way to inflate police numbers in the face of austerity and cuts. There is also some scepticism regarding the continually expanding role of the Police and Crime Commissioners (Russell Webster, 2016), though it has been argued that accountability brought by PCC's election are having a positive impact (Baird, 2016).

The Policing and Crime bill itself is being steered through Parliament by Theresa May. As Home Secretary, Theresa May has already overseen a number of disputes over law enforcement and policing policy.

May has been the force behind the slow and controversial progress of the Investigatory Powers Bill, the so-called snooper's charter (Watt, 2016). Nick Clegg, as Deputy Prime Minister, had forced early bills covering public surveillance, particularly on the internet, to be withdrawn. The most recent attempt has been criticised, not just for being an infringement of liberty, but for being largely unworkable (The Guardian; 2016).

By way of contrast, a positive move was made by May in response to Boris Johnson's wish to deploy water cannon in London. May promised never to deploy police with military style equipment, for fear of undermining the legitimacy of the police (Dodd, 2015) - which is supposed to be based on the principle of policing by consent.

Between refusing water cannons and promoting mass data gathering, and her lack of surety on elected Police and Crime Commissioners (BBC, 2016{2}), Theresa May has cut an inconsistent path as Home Secretary. That inconsistency, along with the Conservative government's poor attitude towards human rights, since cutting loose the Liberal Democrats in May 2015 (Bowcott, 2015), call for a particularly critical eye to be turned on any reform efforts they spearhead.

It is only the early stages for this bill. A bill whose aims will likely be disrupted by disputes over further 'efficiencies' to be found in police budgets (ITV, 2016) - and maybe still further cuts as those scarcely avoided by the Chancellor last time, through heavy dependence upon the prediction of an improved economy, may well come around again in next week's budget with the economy struggling and tough choices expected (Elliott, 2016).

Yet whenever one party seeks to make changes to the enforcement of law and order, it is important to stress the need for the public to remain vigilant. Reform is need. Oversight and transparency are needed. Clear statements of powers, who has them and when, are needed. But the process of reform should too be constrained by those principles.

References

'Policing and Crime Bill: Commons second reading'; from Parliament; 7 March 2016.

The Home Office & Theresa May's 'Government introduces Policing and Crime Bill'; from GOV.UK; 11 February 2016.

Vikram Dodd's 'Theresa May rejects use of water cannon in England and Wales: Home secretary says police ‘will never’ deploy military-style equipment on the streets after rejecting request for use of water cannon'; in The Guardian; 23 July 2015.

'Civilians to help police investigate cybercrimes, says Theresa May'; on the BBC; 19 January 2016.

'What’s in the new policing and crime bill?'; from Russell Webster; 14 February 2016.

Vera Baird's 'Why police and crime commissioners are here to stay - As a PCC for Northumbria, I oversee the budget, making savings of £2.9m. I hold the chief constable to account, scrutinise services and engage with the community'; in The Guardian; 12 January 2016.

Nicholas Watt's 'Nick Clegg: dragnet surveillance to continue under snooper's charter - Former deputy prime minister warns draft investigatory powers bill enables Russian-style ‘collection of everything on everyone’'; in The Guardian; 11 February 2016.

Editorial, 'The Guardian view on the surveillance bill: more thought and honesty needed - Three parliamentary committees have criticised the snooper’s charter. Theresa May should listen and learn'; in The Guardian; 14 February 2016.

'Theresa May feared creating police commissioner 'monster''; on the BBC; 4 February 2016{2}.

Owen Bowcott's 'Tory plans will destroy human rights across Europe, warns Dominic Grieve: Conservative MP says the government’s plan to leave Strasbourg court threatens to make the European convention on human rights inoperable'; in The Guardian; 11 June 2016.

'Theresa May warns police: You've still got budget cuts ahead'; on ITV News; 8 December 2015.

Larry Elliott's 'IFS says Osborne faces tough choices to hit deficit target: Thinktank’s ‘green budget’ says the chancellor may have to cut spending or raise taxes to reach surplus by 2019-20'; in The Guardian; 8 February 2016.