We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 September 2022
Relations between chief officers and police authorities
Responding to the initiatives, requirements and oversight of the police authority, both as a corporate body and in individual interactions, is one of the clear divides between the largely operational command role of a chief superintendent and the strategic command role of the chief officer. This interrelationship is unlikely to change substantially when the police authority as a body is replaced in mid-2012 by the directly elected police crime commissioner (PCC) and his or her supporting police and crime panel. The 15% or so of an average chief officer's time which is devoted to police authority matters (local oversight) does not always produce or encourage mutual cooperation or understanding. Occasionally, the contrast between private and public demeanour can be startling:
Interviewee 26: I was once fronting at a public meeting – you know, one of these dreary ‘meet the people’ affairs in a cold and draughty village hall where you speak to four malcontents, two ne’er-do-wells, a trio of worthies and the local idiot. The chair of the police authority was with me and she and I had never got on. I couldn't do anything right for her. Anyway, someone got up andstarted slagging off the police and me in particular and the chair pitched straight in and really did this man's legs. She fairly ripped into him, saying about what a fantastic job the police were doing and what a marvellous chief constable I was, and how he wouldn't recognise the value of his freedoms if he fell over them and the audience cheered her to the echo. Exhilarating stuff. But there she was next day at headquarters back to having a bloody good go at me as though nothing had changed. If I hadn't been there to see it, I’d never have believed it.
The bemusement of this chief officer at the unpredictable actions of the chair of his police authority, the scarcely veiled antagonism between the police and their local oversight mechanism, and the ubiquity of the political games that seem to be played out both in private and public between chief officers and those appointed or elected to the police authority, are nicely captured in this rueful anecdote.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.
