It’s an understatement to say that sections of society have trust issues with the police at the moment. It’s impossible to “police by consent” if members of the public are afraid of and/or can’t rely on the police to keep them safe.
Given that we know what some of the issues are with policing (Part Vb), how could Wales reform the police to address these challenges?
This part looks at recruitment, training, powers and personnel. The final part of this mini-series (Part VIII) – probably more important than this one – will look at how to hold the police to account.
As the police are considered to be a civilian-led force (Part VI) police powers are those powers – generally set out in law – which police constables have that an ordinary member of the public doesn’t.
The starting position is that all current police powers carry over after independence.
Longer-term, police powers could be divided between those enshrined in a Welsh Constitution or Bill of Rights and those powers left to the law.
Police powers in the Constitution/Bill of Rights would include those which are seen to be permanent and unchanging. It would include rights that aren’t dependent on the circumstances a suspect finds themselves in and apply to everyone equally as a matter of due legal process. Due legal process rights in the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) would be the starting point.
Police powers in legislation would include those powers that would need additional flexibility to change with the times, adapt to new social conditions/social attitudes and can accommodate changes in technology and forensics.
As for how this might look in practice (not an exhaustive list):
As mentioned, the power to change legislation relating to the police would lie with the Senedd. Presumably, political parties would put forward proposals for any changes in their manifestos.
As for how these rights would be monitored and upheld, this will be addressed in Part VIII as well as posts on the judiciary:
