The behaviour of some elected police and crime commissioners, who have hired "crony" deputies and sacked chief constables, has fallen far short of public expectations of the new elected office, an inquiry by MPs has concluded.
The Commons home affairs select committee inquiry into the 41 elected commissioners found that urgent reforms were needed to ensure the new system did not put at further risk public trust in the police.
The MPs say the concept of police and crime commissioners (PCCs), who were first elected on a very low turnout of 15% in November 2012, is still very much on probation.
"It is still too early to determine whether the introduction of PCCs has been a success. Indeed, even by 2016, it may be difficult to draw a national picture because of the range of different approaches being taken by commissioners."
Even the home secretary, Theresa May, who introduced the system of elected PCCs as her flagship police reform, said last November that their first year had been "a little mixed" when it came to holding forces to account.
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2...-probation-mps