Samenvatting

In England & Wales the coalition-government has opted for a localisation of the police service. The government dissociates itself from the New Labour policy of centrally-imposed targets, aims to reconnect the police and the people, and carries out a radical democratic renewal: since 2012 citizens have the possibility to choose their own Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) in their region. This new administrator is reigning over police chiefs and is responsible for the management of security policies in the region. That is the main reason why the English police reform diverges fundamentally from developments in other European countries in which centralizing tendencies prevail. The question is whether the radical changes in England & Wales have a beneficial impact on the local embedment of the police. Are citizens more willing to commit themselves with the local police? In the first part of this paper we examine which developments have taken place in the English police, what the localisation-agenda has achieved so far, and which problems it faces. In the second part we discuss the question which lessons can be learned from the English renewals. Would it be a good idea to introduce PCC’s in the Netherlands? Is democratization the best way to strengthen community involvement? How to stimulate local accountability?