A Royal Commission into policing is long overdue, says Federation Chair

ESSEX Police Federation is backing calls for a Royal Commission into policing.

The last police review took place in 1962 although earlier this year MPs discussed whether a fresh commission was needed to investigate how policing is run and funded.

Now PFEW Chairman John Apter has reopened the debate by calling for an end to the ‘postcode lottery’ of policing funding which can see some forces better resourced than others.

Essex Police Federation Chairman Steve Taylor said a new commission was ‘long overdue.’

“Unless you’re actually going to have a bona fide Royal Commission, you always run the risk of insignificance, you always run the risk of the reaction being ‘that’s very interesting, let’s file it under ‘A. N. Other Day’,” he said.

“So, if you want it to have any meaning and to have the value that it needs to have, my view is only the Royal Commission guarantees that. Why would you settle for anything less?

“Let’s keep pushing for a Royal Commission. It is long overdue and if we want as we think we need, if we want consistent, evidenced change to come, then the commission is the best platform on which to introduce that.”