Public to have greater say in policing

The public are to get a greater say in tackling crime as part of a "new deal" between communities and police announced by the Home Secretary on Thursday.

People will be able to discuss their fears and concerns about local crime at regular meetings and will have the chance to be directly elected as policing representatives, Jacqui Smith told MPs at the launch of the Green Paper "From the Neighbourhood to the National".

The Home Secretary said she would adopt a number of measures announced in earlier reviews carried out by Chief Inspector of Constabulary Ronnie Flanagan and former head of the government's Respect project Louise Casey, including local crime maps and hand-held technology.

Police bureaucracy and red tape would be cut, such as stop and account forms, freeing up police officers to spend more time on the beat, she said.

Helping in this process would be Jan Berry who has been appointed an "independent bureaucracy champion". The former Police Federation chairwoman was a strong critic of the Home Secretary at the federation's last conference.

Smith said the plans "give greater freedom for the police matched by more power to the public".

"Our Green Paper is setting out a new deal for the public and the police," she said.

"The public are the best weapon to help tackle crime. They need to be clear about what they can expect from the police and that is why I'm putting them at the forefront of setting priorities."

The Green Paper also included a reduction in targets and a policing pledge, setting out what local people can expect from their local police team, with clear national standards, including the amount of time spent on the beat, easy ways to contact the local neighbourhood team and clear response times to all calls and incidents.

Gordon Brown said the proposals will "cut red tape and targets at all levels of the police, allowing them to bear down on crime even further".

"We will give the public more say over policing priorities in their area," he added.

The Association of Police Authorities questioned the need for elected representatives on police authorities, saying it opened them up to party politics, extremists or single issue pressure groups.

"The controversial proposal . clearly holds potential risks for the future of policing," APA's Chairman Bob Jones said in a statement.

The Police Federation called for an "entire review of policing" instead of second guessing what the public wants.

Shadow Home Secretary Dominic Grieve said the government had stolen many of his party's ideas, without going far enough.

He said the government should scrap the stop and account form, not just water it down. It should adopt virtual courts, scale back excess audits and overhaul the health and safety regime.

He described the government's proposals as a string of "re-hashed, re-heated but still half-baked announcements".

The Green Paper came on the same day official figures showed a fall in overall crime in England and Wales last year - down 10 percent, according to the British Crime Survey, based on interviews with the public, and 9 percent according to police figures.