PCCS are hopeless and not that bright, say ex-police chiefs

ELECTED police and crime commissioners (PCCS) were described as “not that bright” and “bleeding hopeless” last night in a leaked report that exposed a crisis of confidence at the top levels of policing.

Retired chief constables told the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) that they have been forced to do “terrible things” by PCCS looking for votes and feared promotion to top jobs would see them “thrown under a bus for political expediency”.

The Times reported that applications for chief constable vacancies in the 43 forces in England and Wales were at their lowest level, with PCCS’ ability to carry out “seemingly arbitrary” sackings of officers blamed. More than half of all chief constables appointed in 2015 were the only candidate for the job.

Senior officers are also reported to be reluctant to apply for roles outside their force because of a perceived closeness between PCCS and their deputies. One officer told the newspaper that the system was being “fiddled”.

Sara Thornton, the NPCC chairman, said: “The report is a warning to us that we need to deal with these problems.” She added that most PCCS and chief constables worked well together.