Police Authorities

Police authorities are independent bodies with responsibility for monitoring and overseeing local policing.

Each local police force has an associated police authority. There are 44 police authorities in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, while Scotland has six joint police boards and two police authorities. Police authorities usually have 17 members, of which three are magistrates, nine are local councillors and five are independent members. The Association of Police Authorities (APA) is the membership organisation that represents police authorities giving them a united voice to speak out on issues affecting policing.
 
Police authorities are a key link between the police and the community, and a primary mechanism through which local scrutiny of policing activity occurs. Although they have important executive functions (including setting police force budgets and the overall strategic direction for policing in their areas), police authorities have a crucial scrutiny role in holding chief constables to account and monitoring local police performance more broadly. Police authorities also have a statutory duty to consult the public before setting policing objectives.
 
The main instrument for local scrutiny is the police authority's annual policing plan, which outlines the local policing priorities and targets for that year. The authority then monitors, and reports back to the community, on how well the police force has performed against the local policing plan's requirements.

The 1998 Crime and Disorder Act established Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRPs) in recognition of the fact that local partners need to work together to protect the public from crime. In 2006, the Police and Justice Act established a new framework for holding CDRPs to account through the establishment of crime and disorder scrutiny committees in local authorities. However, as of early 2009, regulations to implement these powers have yet to be passed by Parliament.

Published in July 2008, the government Green Paper ‘From the neighbourhood to the national: policing our communities together’ contained a number of powers that may further change the dynamic of how the police are scrutinised if they are passed as law.

Related Links
Association of Police Authorities (APA)
http://www.apa.police.uk/apa
The Association of Police Authorities was set up on 1st April 1997 to represent police authorities in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, both on the national stage and locally. It influences policy on policing and it supports local police authorities in their important role.