Who Polices the Police?

At a fringe meeting Cllr. Paul Boateng, Chairman of the GLC's Police 'Committee, outlined plans to bring the Metropolitan and other police forces under greater democratic control. He argued that the present administration of the police is at once profoundly political and deeply undemocratic. While acknowledging that there are valuable experiments in community involvement going on at present, he urged that 'community policing' should be viewed with circumspection, given its largely unconsidered implications for the civil liberties of offenders. He admitted that he and others advocating greater democratic involvement in policing are involved in a power struggle, and one that can be resolved only politically. Probation officers in the meeting spoke of local concerns in their areas, and Cllr. Boateng seemed glad to receive confirmation of some of his ideas—both about the need for change and about the possibilities of making greater use of the existing element of democratic oversight. He made it clear that he felt that the present state of affairs constituted a political and constitutional crisis, and that the critical time must shortly come on this issue. Lord Scarman's findings and the reactions to them may well have proved him right by the time the Journal is published.