What work is the police reform policy task force undertaking?
Nick Herbert: David Cameron has asked me to lead a task force specifically on police reform, and that is looking really at two principal ways we think we can improve police performance. One is looking at an area that I think politicians have generally neglected, which is the structure of the police force itself, in terms of its workforce and the need for workforce modernisation and to adopt new flexibilities to expand the police family, to adapt to the fact that we live in a different world where new technologies have come on stream, new skills are required on the part of police officers. And the second part is to look at the accountability of the police and we think that needs enhancing, and accountability should primarily be local. A great advantage of that approach is we could put an end to this movement that there has been in the police – I think in common with other public services – towards central direction, national targets, a plethora of bodies seeking to interfere with the po
