Improve the PCC's transparency arrangements
Police and Crime Commissioners hold Chief Constables to account for local policing – to do this, effective scrutiny arrangements must be in place. Equally, the public need independent, consistent and clear information on the performance and activities of their PCC.
Transparency is essential to promote confidence in the PCC and will allow the public to compare the performance of their PCC with PCCs elsewhere.
Returning for a second term, the PCC was keen to build upon those arrangements and practices that had been introduced during his first term. He wanted to ensure his office set high standards in order that his team could lead by example.
Improvements to the PCC’s scrutiny arrangements are numerous. For example, the PCC introduced formal challenges to the Force, which are tracked on a weekly basis and discussed with the Police and Crime Panel.
These PCC challenges, which have included questions about estates, financial arrangements and firearms licences, total around 30 and are informed by views from members of the public.
The PCC has also introduced and adopted a suite of independent scrutiny panels. These are discussed in more detail within other commitments.
In terms of transparency, the PCC provides more information to the public than ever before. Perhaps the best example of this is through the use of the Police and Crime Plan online tracker, which provides updates against all 100 of the PCC’s commitments during this term.
The PCC’s office complies fully with guidance from central government and has been assessed by independent experts each year since the PCC’s election.
These assessments have led to the Dorset Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner being awarded with CoPaCC OPCC Transparency Quality Marks for each year of the current term.
The Chief Executive of CoPaCC said: “For my part, the office has demonstrated that they are transparent in what they do, meeting relevant legal requirements. They present key information in an accessible format on their websites and I congratulate them all on their good work.”
This links to other commitments around creating a panel to examine complaints against the service, and creating a volunteer group to observe contact with the police.