Should we elect our Chief of Police?
8/10/2010 at 3:29 PM
A major story in the London, UK news recently was their somewhat controversial movement toward having England's Police Chiefs elected locally through the same process that Mayors, etc are chosen. The emphasis is on the fact it will further give the public a voice when it comes to the person most in charge of keeping their community safe.
In your opinion is this a concept we should be considering in Manitoba as well? One positive being that the public will in fact get a voice in policing, making the Police accountable to the public. On the other side of the coin, would we be distracting a chief's focus a little further from their very important job and a little more toward doing and saying the kinds of things politicians do to try and bring in the votes?
For a little more background, here's a story relating to England's Police reform:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/7911212/David-Cameron-promises-elected-police-chiefs-will-ensure-public-have-a-voice.html