Will police commissioners meekly submit to the sort of explicit and implicit controls Whitehall imposed on police authorities? The other week police minister Nick Herbert decreed that police forces had too many helicopters and would in future have to procure them under a Home Office mandate that could lead, for example, to regional flying squads, as it were.
What if Prescott or Tory Collins – an all but declared candidate for the Kent commissioner job – say they want their own helicopters, with the strong backing of their chief officers?
Yet this is what the Home Office ordained. Its officials are astounded that home secretary Theresa May and Nick Herbert have faced so little pushback from their political colleagues, inside or outside cabinet, despite the example of the NHS reforms and what can happen when ministers are allowed to plough their own furrows.
What if commissioners insist on more spending in order to deliver more value and can muster local political will? Ignoring the police authorities was easy, but telling Prescott he can't do this or that, when he will have been elected fair and square (and the turnout could be decent), poses large political risks – especially since Prescott's patch includes the constituency of David Davies, the Tory stickler for constitutional propriety.
Police elections: a constitutional issue | Public Leaders Network | Guardian Professional