COUNTY POLICE (ENGLAND AND WALES). (Hansard, 22 April 1914)

§ Mr. WILLIAM JOHNSON

I beg to move, "That leave be given to introduce a Bill to assimilate the control of the police in the counties of England and Wales with the control of the police in the boroughs."

The object of this Bill is to amend the Local Government Act, 1888, so as to abolish the standing joint committee, and to transfer their powers and duties to the county councils of England and Wales, and to add the powers and duties now performed by the borough councils in connection with the control of the police. I think the time has come when some change should be made, so as to give the people in the counties the same control over the police whom they provide and pay for as the people in the boroughs have. For twenty-five years I have been a member 952 of the standing joint committee of Warwickshire and also of the sub-police committee, so that I know the disadvantages under which we have to perform our duties. I think that this ought to be an uncontroversial Bill. An experience or an apprenticeship of twenty-five years is, I think, sufficient to teach us our duties. No doubt under the Local Government Act, 1888, the Court of Quarter Sessions, who managed the police in those days, thought it better that they should keep control of and educate the new members of the county councils. But I do not think it was intended by the Local Government Act, 1888, that the control of the police by the standing joint committee should be a permanent institution. I think it was intended that for a time at least it should go on in that way. But twenty-five years have passed, and, although the arrangement may have been useful at first, I think the time has now come when the people in the counties should have the same right to control the police as they have in the boroughs. I do not wish to use any offensive word, but the chief constable to-day is an autocrat. We have no power over him in many ways.

4.0 P.M.

The first thing that this Bill would do would be to give the county council in the counties the power to appoint their own clerk and fix his salary. They have no such power to-day. The standing joint committee have the power, and the county council have to find the money. That is a thing which cannot go on for ever. The next thing is that the standing joint committees have to consider increases of wages for the police, administer police buildings, purchase clothing, give out contracts, and pass pensions under the Police Pensions Act. It is time that that passed away, and the county council had full power over these matters. The chief point, however, is the control of the police, absolutely and autocratically, by the chief constable. We have no power whatever over him in the performance of his duties, no matter what they may be. The people ask, therefore, in the first place, that they shall have a free voice and choice in the management of the police by the county council and a Watch Committee; and, secondly, that they shall have control over the chief constable. The chief constable at present is an autocrat. He may be partial, or he may be impartial, in promotion from one rank to another, but no one is allowed to 953 dictate, or to say, except by private influence, who the best men in the force is for promotion. I am not sure that the chief constable always knows that. The Watch Committee would have the power in this matter that they have in the boroughs, so that they could see that the best man is chosen for promotion and for the higher position. It is in the interests of the police that this should be done. We shall never have an efficient police force until it has been done, so that every man will know that he will be treated on his merits in the performance of his duties, and in virtue of his good conduct. Lastly, we ask that in the matter of fines, punishment, and dismissal, the constable, who has no appeal against the chief constable at present, should have one. The chief constable at present decides, and no one has a word to say in the matter. We ask for this right for the officer. At present a constable, if charged and dealt with, if he appeals, has to have the charge written down, with his reply in another paragraph, while a third paragraph contains the allegations of the officer that has made the charge. This is all, as I say, written down, and this is the last chance that a constable has of stating his appeal. In the case of a Watch Committee these men would be dealt with on the merits of their case, and would be able to state their defence the same as any other Englishman can do. I think the appointment of clerk and the fixing of his salary should be by the county council, who also should have power to curb the autocratic power of the chief constable. For these various reasons, and with an experience of twenty-five years in Warwickshire, I ask leave to introduce this Bill.