Home Secretary To 'Cut Red Tape' For Police Officers

The Home Secretary is expected to outline a Green Paper on policing which aims to "cut red tape and paperwork".

Jacqui Smith is also reported to have offered the job of investigating police bureaucracy to Jan Berry, the former head of the Police Federation.

It is thought that the job offer means there is no bad blood between the two women.

Reports say that Ms Berry is "surprised and flattered" to be asked to lead a taskforce to reduce police paperwork.

BBC News home affairs correspondent Danny Shaw says Ms Berry is "seriously considering the offer".

Earlier this year, Ms Berry said Ms Smith had "betrayed" the police and described her decision not to backdate a pay rise as a "monumental mistake".

The Police Federation of England and Wales has welcomed the proposals to cut paperwork, saying that supervisors are "spending a large amount of their time" on red tape.

Chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, Paul McKeever said: "The public don't want police officers in police stations completing paperwork to a beautiful standard and supplying the Home Office with statistics".

The Green Paper is also expected to propose more control over police forces to directly-elected mayors.

It is understood that so far, only 12 towns and cities, including London, have directly elected mayors.

Under the new proposals, mayors such as Boris Johnson in London, will become the "new crime and policing representative" for their city, replacing the existing police authority.

It is reported that the directly elected local police board chiefs will be based on the 370 crime and disorder reduction partnerships (CDRP), which were set up in 1998.

However, Bob Jones, of the Association of Police Authorities, said that direct elections could be "dangerous".

"This is something that we know that local people do not want.

"There is also a very real danger of extremists and single issue pressure groups targeting these elections for their own ends," he said.

The Department for Communities and Local Government said in a statement that they will "make the move to a directly elected mayoralty more attractive to local politicians".

It is reported that police authorities would also be "reshaped" to include members voted in by the public.

Yesterday, Ms Smith said that "great strides" had been made in the way the information about criminals is collected and shared about criminals "in order to fight crime and protect the public".

"We will be producing a full response and action plan in the autumn, and I will be consulting on Sir Ian's recommendations, including his proposal for the creation of a Commission for Public Protection Information," she said.

Earlier this week, Ms Smith announced that Alf Hitchcock, the Deputy Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service, will head up a national knife crime programme to lead on delivering action against knife crime.

See: Home Secretary Feels The Heat At Police Conference

(DS/NS)