Policing Act makes cops accountable to PM only

[√] Imagine a boot stamping on a human face forever.

The cops are tasering themselves in disbelief that the Bill they wrote for themselves so easily became law. The Bill to make sure they are an instrument of the Prime Minister of the day and unaccountable to anyone else was passed by parliament on Friday with support from both Labour and National.

While much of the Bill's content puts into statute that which has been practiced uncontroversially for some time, it also consolidates the Prime Minister's role as the one who appoints the Commissioner and Deputy Commissioners. The position of Police Minister in the Bill is also relegated under that of the Prime Minister.

The Police under the Bill have no board to oversee and scrutinise them and make them accountable - all they have is a Commissioner - a Commissioner appointed by the PM. The Police Commissioner is therefore not properly independent because the PM controls the career gateways that lead to Commissioner. The Police as an organisation are very much independent of parliament however. Having the Commissioner appointed by and accountable to parliament rather than the executive never seems to have drawn breath as a viable alternative.

I've previously posted on the short-comings and lost opportunities of the Policing Bill. Apart from the identifying particulars being left open (and therefore open to abuse) local accountability is a key failing. Naturally, local input is automatically redundant if there isn't even any proper central accountability. If people wonder why the police are often slow to respond to minor crime (or even shootings!) they should ask themselves who the local district commander has to report to and be accountable to. It's not local government or locally elected or appointed citizens or judges - as it normally is in democratic jurisdictions like the UK and the US - the structure in NZ points directly back to the Commissioner and they are accountable only to the PM. Forget the select committee process, that's more of an ex post facto audit that can only interview and recommend, and forget the State Services Commissioner - those are not managerial elements in the relationship to the Commissioner - the relationship that counts is with the PM.

The PM hires and fires, the PM promotes and demotes. That closed system invites political manipulation, under-performance and ultimately corruption. That is inappropriate, especially in a country that likes to think of itself in terms of progressive legislation. This law is anti-democratic, and flies in the face of transparency and accountability and is well out of step with similar jurisdictions who have endeavoured to improve police performance. Given that the government is prepared to go along with Police plans to absorb the Serious Fraud Office and therefore concentrate its own powers and capabilities, more scrutiny needs to be applied to the motivations and projected end point of the Policing Act.