Too many police chiefs? - A review of police strength and costs in England & Wales 2010
SUMMARY OBSERVATIONS - ACPO - The Association of Police Officers
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Scrutinising the continuing value of 349 ACPO officers & 3,408 SMT Ranks, demanding that forces prove beyond doubt, the need for so many Chiefs drawing such a disproportionate percentage of the total staffing cost, both in numbers engaged and the bonus payments that are shrouded in secrecy.
CHANGE STARTS AT THE TOP – WITH THE WAY FORCES ARE GOVERNED
Unless the governance system itself is transformed, any substantive programme of reform will suffer the same fate as those that preceded it: opposition within different parts of the service followed by a government ‘U-turn’ for fear of a politically costly conflict with the police. The first reform priority therefore has to be to design a system of governance that is more coherent and less fragmented and that empowers local and national police leaders to deliver change in the public interest.
THE CURRENT SYSTEM OF GOVERNENCE IS FRAGMENTED
The structure of the police presents a block to necessary reform. The “tripartite model” – with power shared between the Home Secretary, Police Authorities and Chief Constables – means that Government does not have effective control over national policing priorities. The 43 forces are run as fiefdoms by their Chief Constables. To get things done, the Home Office resorts to bribing forces with sweeteners.
http://www.acpo.police.uk/
Currently the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) – a self-perpetuating oligarchy – is the key influence on police forces. Oligarchy exists where all power is vested in a few persons or in a dominant class or clique; government by the few. In most cases, the members of an oligarchy share leadership in a sort of bureaucracy that allows different people absolute power over certain aspects of the machine. The difference between an oligarchy and a democracy is that the shared leadership is not dependent upon the will of the people. Members of an oligarchy achieve their leadership through selection from within the already established members. Therefore, an oligarchy is actually a form of shared dictatorship in which the people have a limited role in its government.
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Chapter 5
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