How strange — John Prescott is fast becoming the poster boy for elected police
commissioners. He appeared on the Today Programme earlier to explain why he’s putting himself forward for that very job in his home of Humberside. But has he acquiesced to Tory thinking? Don’t bet on it. As he told John Humphrys, he doesn’t actually support the legislation, but he does believe that Labour should have a man in the fight:
‘The Labour Party didn’t like this legislation and I voted against it, but once there is an election the party isn’t going to stay out of it and they will want to see it doesn’t go the way they feared it might go.’
Which probably explains why Prescott sees the role of elected police commissioners as quite limited. When questioned on what he would actually do, the Labour Lord was quick to say that he’d help with planning, but stay clear of operational matters:
‘What we will have now is a commissioner discussing what the community would like in that plan. Once the plan is decided the resources allocated, the chief constable gets on with the job. That’s his operational responsibility.’
On his account, then the role appears to be that of an enhanced community liaison officer. But why would that appeal to someone who already holds office as Baron Prescott, of Kingston upon Hull in the County of East Yorkshire? Ours not to suggest his motivations, but he did hint that revenge could be among them when discussing his ongoing clashes with the Met:
‘In my battle with the Metropolitan Police, the police said to me operationally, we don’t think anything has happened to you. There’s been no phone tapping. I had to go to the courts to get that. The courts have now laid down to the police: “you must inform anybody if you find evidence of criminal offences.”’
Either way, this interview highlights one major potential tension when it comes to elected commissioners: not between Labour and Conservative, but between an American-style sheriff and a sort of human listening post. And as for what the public wants, it will soon be up to them to choose.
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