Ex-Met chief Lord Stevens to lead Labour policing review

A "heavyweight" independent review of policing in England and Wales is to be set up by Labour and led by former Metropolitan Police chief Lord StevensShadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said ministers' reforms to the service were "piecemeal" and "cackhanded".She said a "heavyweight review" was now needed "to look at the crime challenges of the 21st Century and how policing needs to adapt and respond".The announcement has been welcomed by police leaders.The overall structure of the police service was last examined by a royal commission in 1962.Successive governments have resisted requests by police leaders to set up a new one and Ms Cooper said Labour's review would be in place of it.She is expected to tell Labour's conference in Liverpool later that ministers are introducing "chaos and confusion" to the police force."They promise less bureaucracy but they increase the forms officers have to fill," she will say."They promise to professionalise the service, but then abolish the training to deliver it."She will argue that "now is the time for a serious vision for the future of policing - building on the best of British and international policing. Including experts from here and abroad. Vigorous and challenging on the changes needed. Working with the police not trying to undermine them".The independent review will be led by Lord Stevens, who retired as commissioner of the UK's largest police force in 2005. Since then he has led the Met's inquiry into the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, and the Football Association's investigation into alleged corruption within the sport.Dr Tim Brain, a former chief constable of Gloucestershire Police, will also be on the panel, along with Kathleen O'Toole, a former police commissioner in the US city of Boston.Ms Cooper told a Labour conference fringe meeting there was no fixed timetable for the review, but she wanted it to report back before the next general election in 2015.She stressed that while Labour would set it up, the review would be independent and her party would respond to its findings.Derek Barnett, president of the Superintendents Association, said he "fully supported" the idea of a review."We've discussed and called for it for 10 years," he said. "Never has it been more important to have a review. We will support it and the service will support it."Paul McKeevor, head of the Police Federation, said it was "a very good idea".Ms Cooper will also use her speech on Wednesday to accuse the Conservatives of being "weak on crime"."We will stay resolutely committed to building on our progress in cutting crime," she will say."This should be the objective of this government, but when you consider that no Tory government, since the war, has left office with crime lower than when they entered Number 10, it is clear - Labour is the party of law and order."Police forces in England and Wales are facing a 20% reduction in their funding over the next four years, with an estimated reduction in the number of offices of 16,000.Ms Cooper will tell the conference that the £100m currently earmarked for the introduction of police and crime commissioners in England and Wales should instead be spent on keeping on more than 2,000 extra constables.She will say that some of the money could also be spent on tough anti-gang initiatives."The job of government is to act to prevent crime, not just stand back and lament crime," she will say."David Cameron's claim that the riots are the product of a broken society to me sounds like a form of surrender."Mr Cameron has dismissed suggestions that following the recent riots the government should rethink the cuts in police budgets.The prime minister told a Commons committee they were "totally achievable without any reduction in visible policing". From / BBC