Forcing the Issue: New Labour, New Localism and the Democratic Renewal of Police Accountability

The purpose of this article is to evaluate proposals contained in the government's Green Paper Policing: Building Safer Communities Together (Home Office 2003) and the White Paper Building Communities: Beating Crime (Home Office 2004) to re-invigorate the structure of police governance in the UK. After providing a brief overview of New Labour's initial attempts to modernise British policing, I analyse why and how the broader political discourse of ‘new localism’ came to frame the unfolding debate about the need to revitalise police accountability. The article then offers a critical evaluation of the latest Home Office attempt to reorganise the democratic structure of police governance in the UK.