Clause 2 - Codes of practice for chief officers
Police Reform Bill [Lords]
11:00 am
Mr James Paice (South East Cambridgeshire, Conservative)
The point is that it is not clear from the way in which the clause is written that the chief officer can ultimately exercise his own judgment. If the clause is accepted, giving the Home Secretary considerable powers of micro-management, he or she could refer back to the fact that a chief officer had decided to use his judgment not to adhere to a code of practice and intervene by micro-managing that police force. The amendment seeks only to provide that a chief officer can exercise his own judgment, in consultation with the police authority, on what is effective and efficient in his area. It seeks to insert into the Bill the proposals already made in the other place by Lord Rooker.