Ribble Valley and South Ribble Conservatives are being urged to press a future Conservative government to make the Lancashire police force accountable to an individual directly elected by the citizens of the police force area. Police Commissioners will seek re-election on their record, and answer to the public for their success or failure in reducing crime.

 Senior Vice-Chairman of Ribble Valley Conservatives and Longridge councillor, Ken Hind explained that Conservative members throughout the country are being consulted on this issue as part of a consultation exercise entitled ‘Returning Power to the People.’

‘Instead of being micromanaged by the Home Secretary, Lancashire police will be directed by, and accountable to, the communities they serve. Far from unknown appointed members of the police authority being responsible , there will be proper public accountability.

‘Plans to give the electorate this right is a further means of increasing direct accountability for those running local services and to give local people direct control over the way they are policed.

 ‘In April 2008, Conservatives announced that we will empower local people and give them much more information about crime on their streets. Crime mapping has revolutionised the way crime is fought in American cities - and it can do the same here. We will require every police force in the country to publish local crime statistics online, on a monthly basis and in map form.

 ‘That means everyone will know what sort of crime has happened, at what time and – to street level – exactly where. Local residents will be able to compare police performance in their neighbourhood to others nearby, it will put them in the driving seat and give them the power to insist on effective crime fighting solutions. It means local social entrepreneurs, drug charities and a host of other organisations can use the information to pick out hotspots, see what needs doing and transform neighbourhoods. And police officers themselves will be assisted by the problems getting higher profile with the public and lead to greater co-operation .

 ‘In July, the Government followed the Conservative lead our lead and announced proposals to introduce a system of crime mapping. However our proposals will go much further, by setting up quarterly beat meetings - along with directly elected police commissioners - to restore real local accountability to policing. ‘Beat Meetings’ will give the public the chance to look at the crime maps, see what has been achieved and where necessary demand action from local officers