Straw denies police crisis

No crisis: Jack Straw rejected calls for police review

Home Secretary Jack Straw has denied that the police service is in crisis as he outlined a review of how complaints against the police are investigated.

Mr Straw was responding to comments by Police Federation chairman Fred Broughton, who said there was a "potentially calamitous exodus of police officers from every force in the country".

The home secretary admitted that the service faced problems and he did not rule out a Royal Commission into the future of the police.

Speaking at the Police Federation conference in Brighton, Mr Straw also said he would speed up the recruitment of 5,000 new officers.

The home secretary said that he was launching a consultation paper on complaints against the police following recommendations made by the Stephen Lawrence inquiry into shaking up the system.

An independent system would mean more confidence among the public and better protection for police officers

Jack Straw

He said that the review would not only give the public confidence in investigations of serious allegations but would also protect officers from falling victim to unfair allegations.

Civilian investigators

Under the current system, all investigations are handled by the national Police Complaints Authority, which calls in detectives from other forces to deal with cases against a constabulary or officers.

On the beat: Officers fear drop in confidence

The Home Office review could lead to civilian investigators dealing with serious complaints against officers.

Consultants KPMG have already recommended to the home secretary that officials from other branches of the criminal justice system, such as Customs, Inland Revenue, the Serious Fraud Office or senior lawyers could take charge of inquiries.

"The federation has long campaigned for an independent procedure for investigating complaint against the police," said Mr Straw.

"So have I. An independent system would mean more confidence among the public and better protection for police officers from unfair complaints."

Mr Straw said that the nature of policing was such that "honest mistakes" were sometimes made.

He said that his consultation paper, published on Wednesday, aimed to find the "best way forward" for the police service across all of complaints.

Commission call

But Mr Broughton said that declining public confidence meant that there had to be a fundamental review of the service.

He said many officers lacked the confidence to do their job, fearing they would be criticised or disciplined over issues such as racist behaviour, he said.

"This police service and the public it serves is crying out for redefined direction," he told Mr Straw.

"You, sir, would be rendering a profound service to your fellow citizens and to us if you decided in the very near future to set in train the root and branch examination of the state of the British police service."

But Mr Straw said figures drawn from the last completed British crime survey showed that four out of five people have confidence in their local police.

And he added that one of the greatest threats to the service came from those who sought to "play politics" with the police - an attack on opposition politicians who questioned the actions of the police in the wake of London's May Day violence.

"There was a time in the 1980s when some members of my party thought of playing politics with the police," he said.

"I believe that other parties are now at it."

The Police Federation conference is being addressed on Thursday by Conservative leader William Hague.