Electing Police and Crime Commissioners

In mid-November 2012, elections will be held in each police force area in England and Wales, apart from London, for the post of police and crime commissioner. Senior police officers suggest it will be the biggest shake-up since the first police force was established by Sir Robert Peel in the early nineteenth century. The government believes the new PCCs will empower local communities to decide policing priorities in their areas; critics fear the move is politicising policing and may prove detrimental to national policing needs. Margaret Gilmore investigates the challenges and the likely impact of this new approach.