What is a Police Authority?
A police authority is an independent body made up of local people.
Together with the Home Secretary and chief police officers, police authorities are responsible for the management of policing in England and Wales.
Police authorities make sure that you have an efficient and effective local police force.
There is a police authority for each local police force - 43 in England and Wales – plus additional police authorities for British Transport Police, Civil Nuclear Police, and a Police Committee for the Ministry of Defence police. In Northern Ireland the police authority is called the Policing Board (NIPB), but it has a similar role to police authorities in England and Wales.
Police authorities make sure local people have a say in how they are policed and they hold the chief police officer to account for the services the police force deliver to local people. Police authorities also set the police force budget and decide how much money to raise towards the cost of policing through the local council tax. This is called the 'policing precept'.
All police authorities are members of the Association of Police Authorities.
Who is on the Police Authority?
Most police authorities have 17 members:
- Nine local councillors appointed by the local council
- Eight independent members selected following local advertisements, at least one of whom must be a magistrate
The Metropolitan Police Authority has 23 members because of London’s size.
9.5% of all police authority members are from minority ethnic backgrounds and 30.3% are women (Sep 2010).