Lord Stevens to chair Labour review of policing

Former Metropolitan police commissioner to head party’s ‘independent review’ into the future of policing in Britain Lord Stevens, the former Metropolitan police commissioner, is to chair Labour’s “independent review” into the future of policing, the shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, is to announce. The appointment is a boost for the credibility of the review, which risks being seen as a Labour party operation. Stevens is reported to have been courted by David Cameron to run as the Tory candidate for London mayor in 2006 and has in the past advocated the return of the death penalty. Cooper will tell the Labour conference on Wednesday that the review is to “bring some coherence and vision to the ideologically motivated, chaotic and piecemeal approach to police reform undertaken by this government.” Kathleen O’Toole, a former Boston police commissioner, and Tim Brain, the former Gloucestershire chief constable and an expert on police finance, are also to serve on the review. Although the timetable has yet to be decided it is expected to report before Labour draws up its next general election manifesto. The review follows repeated calls from the main police organisations for a royal commission to examine the fundamental purposes of policing in Britain. Both Sir Hugh Orde of the Association of Chief Police Officers and Paul McKeever, the chairman of the Police Federation, renewed their calls at a Labour fringe meeting yesterday and observed that when the last had reported in 1961 it was before the advent of colour television. McKeever revealed the home secretary, Theresa May, had refused to meet them since she addressed their annual conference in May. The federation warned her that the cuts would lead to riots on the streets and demanded to know how she slept at night. Cooper is to tell the conference that the time had come to set up a heavyweight independent review: “The government has refused to do so. So we will.” She says the inquiry would work with the police and take evidence from experts at home and abroad and look at how policing needs to change to respond to the crime challenges of the 21st century. “It will be led by someone who started as a beat officer in Tottenham and rose to be commissioner of the Metropolitan police. I am grateful to the much respected Lord John Stevens for agreeing to chair this important independent review.” Stevens has presided over several major inquiries since he retired as Met Commissioner in 2005 including into collusion between the British army and loyalist terrorists, into the death of Princess Diana and allegations of corruption in football. Stevens was appointed by Gordon Brown as his adviser on international security issues in 2007 as part of his policy of bringing non-Labour outsiders into Whitehall. The shadow justice secretary, Sadiq Khan, is also to announce that a Labour government would introduce a “victim’s law” along the lines advocated by the victims’ commissioner, Louise Casey, to honour the rights of families of homicide victims. “We are committed to delivering effective justice, and treating victims with respect and dignity, supporting victims through all stages of the process, including the deeply traumatic experience of when a case reaches court,” says Khan. Police Labour Metropolitan police Yvette Cooper Alan Travis Sandra Laville guardian.co.uk

Posted by on September 28, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.