Civilian oversight of the police in England and Wales
| Author | Rob I Mawby,Kreseda Smith |
| Date | 01 March 2017 |
| DOI | 10.1177/1461355716677875 |
| Published date | 01 March 2017 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
Civilian oversight of the police in England
and Wales: The election of Police and
Crime Commissioners in 2012 and 2016
Rob I Mawby
Harper Adams University, UK
Kreseda Smith
Harper Adams University, UK
Abstract
The creation of Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) in England and Wales in November 2012 by the Conservative/
Liberal Democrat Coalition government, replacing the former police authorities, introduced a new mechanism for civilian
oversight of the police. However, the new structure has been heavily criticised, both for the election process and for the
ways in which newly elected PCCs have operated. Despite these criticisms, PCCs were retained by the new Conservative
government, and the scheduled round of new elections took place in May 2016. This article assesses these elections and
compares them with those 2012, in terms of the election process and the attributes of the candidates and those
successfully elected.
Keywords
Police and Crime Commissioners, accountability, governance, politics and police, democratic policing, civilian oversight
Submitted 20 Jun 2016, Revise received 05 Sep 2016, accepted 25 Sep 2016
Introduction
Although the police in England and Wales come under the
auspices of theHome Office, the police structure is generally
considered a decentralisedsystem, with the 41 police author-
ities outside London operating with considerable indepen-
dence. Until 2012, each was overseenby a police authority,
made up of councillors and independent members who
formed a key component of the tripartite relationship
between individual police forces, central government and
local governance (Independent Police Commission, 2013;
Reiner, 2000). The Police Reform and Social Responsibility
Act 2011 provided for the mostradical transformation in the
governance and accountability of the public police in Eng-
land and Wales since the Police Act 1964 (Reiner, 2016).
Whereas in London, the police becamethe responsibility of
the mayor’s office,
1
Police and Crime Commissioners
(PCCs) were elected in the remaining 41 police authorities
of England and Wales.These authorities varied considerably
in size. Of these 41 police forceareas, the West Midlands was
the largest,with 7133 officers in 2015, and Warwickshire the
smallest, with 828 officers(Home Office, 2015). The elected
PCCs were responsible for holding their force to account,
hiringand firingthe chief constable,setting out local policing
priorities and managing the police budget (Home Office,
2010). Inaddition, they were charged with funding alllocally
managed victim services(Mawby, 2016; Simmonds, 2016).
2
This does not give them complete authority over policing
in their area: for example, the tot al police budget is still
largely controlled centrally.However, the PCCs, potentially
without any background in policing and crimi nal justice,
effectivelyoutrank full-time and fully trained police officers,
including chiefconstables, who have been promoted through
the ranks, and have considerable power without necessarily
adequate transparency (Loveday et al., 2014).
Corresponding author:
Rob I Mawby, Harper Adams University, Newport, TF10 8NB, UK.
Email: professorrobmawby@hotmail.com
International Journalof
Police Science & Management
2017, Vol. 19(1) 23–30
ªThe Author(s) 2016
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DOI: 10.1177/1461355716677875
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