I am disheartened, in these days of a decline in the respect for police governance as a result of well-documented abuses, to see three of England’s most senior officers call for more powers to be given to the service that would undermine the judicial system (Police should be given power to charge suspects, say senior officers in England, 27 February).
These chief constables seem to have forgotten the Peelian principles of policing, specifically the one stating that police “should always direct their action strictly towards their functions, and never appear to usurp the powers of the judiciary”, which they appear to be doing. Greater confidence in policing will not be gained by a return to a 1980s “right realist” approach that sought to penalise rather than educate, and in doing so led to even more heavy-handed policing against marginalised communities than exists today.
