Flaw exposed in the police and crime commissioner model

Fire & Emergency Response

ga

nd

M ed

ia

Flaw exposed in the police and crime commissioner model

Lt

d

Following the public backlash on his widely condemned remarks, Political Correspondent Catherine Levin investigates the resignation of North Yorkshire PFCC Philip Allot and suggests it is a reminder of the flaws of the police, fire and crime commissioner model

I

Pa v

ilio nP ub

lis

hin

n the bucolic county of North Yorkshire rarely do those elected to represent the residents make national news. Except last month, when the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner made crass and insensitive comments in response to the kidnap, rape and murder of Sarah Everard by a serving police officer. This resulted in a deluge of complaints and calls for him to resign, which eventually he did.

Philip Allot was the PFCC and his resignation exposed a fundamental weakness of the police fire and crime commissioner model: that removing a PFCC (or PCC for that matter) from office is incredibly difficult to do and relies on them to resign and trigger an election for their successor.

Whether that is the right model to replace fire and rescue authorities made up of local councillors is a question the Home Office will be putting to the public in its Fire Reform White Paper. The case of North Yorkshire may give them pause for thought.

Public Backlash On October 1, Mr Allot was a guest on BBC Radio York’s breakfast radio show. Responding to questions about the murder of Sarah Everard, he said: “Women just need to be streetwise about when they can be arrested and when they can’t…She [Sarah] should never have been arrested and submitted to that. What I’m saying is, perhaps women need to consider, in terms of the legal process, and just learn a little bit about that process.”

It was this focus on women knowing how policing works, rather than focusing on men as perpetrators of violence towards women and girls, that resulted in a huge backlash.

Within hours, Mr Allot took to Twitter and apologised, retracting his remarks.

The thousands of replies to his tweet were vociferous and united in their condemnation of his comments. He did not tweet again. The account remained silent.

The national press picked up on this story and it ran on the BBC and in most of the newspapers. A petition

“The experience of Mr Allot does not bode well for inspiring confidence in moving governance of fire to PCCs” www.fire–magazine.com

|

November 2021

| 47

“Mr Allot’s words revealed an attitude about women that has no place in fire and rescue services and did an immense disservice to the people of North Yorkshire who deserved better from their elected representative”

ga

nd

M ed

ia

Lt

d

oversight of fire from 2018 and North Yorkshire remains one of only four PFCCs in England.

She wrote an opinion piece in the Yorkshire Post on October 9, which she shared on LinkedIn saying: ‘This is both personal and work-related. I decided to speak out about the situation here in North Yorkshire with the PCC. I think the panel meeting where he has to answer to the public should be held in public’.

The Yorkshire Post’s editorial in the same edition agreed with Ms Mulligan: ‘Taking refuge behind a screen is cheap, cowardly, and hardly shows a willingness to reflect and learn’ With the Police, Fire and Crime Panel looming on October 14, Mr Allot submitted a lengthy response for them to review. He started off by saying that his remarks were wrong, entirely misconceived and grossly insensitive. ‘With hindsight I should have queried the fundamental basis of the question – it is not for women or girls to be expressly or impliedly obliged to protect themselves. It is for men not to harass, intimidate, assault and murder women’.

He went on to acknowledge that his remarks could not be etched from the record and then listed out a series of initiatives and funding that support the safety of women and girls, adding: ‘As the Panel will know from our first meeting addressing violence against women and girls is one of my key pledges, which is why it is so embarrassing.

Violence against women and girls will feature as a top priority in my forthcoming Police and Crime Plan which will be published in January 2022’.

In a contrite finish to his response, he said that he had only been in the job for five months and had ‘an immense amount to learn’. He echoed much of what he had said on October 2 about his need for learning and development in this area. ‘I have committed to a programme of learning and development in relation to male violence against women and girls and to the needs and perspectives of all victims of crime. It is right that I do so at my own expense and that I also extend the learning opportunities to others who may wish to participate’.

Pa v

ilio nP ub

lis

hin

was set up on change.org calling for Mr Allot to resign.

It said: ‘Allott has since apologised for his comments but we believe an apology is not enough and he should resign. Victim blaming is never okay, let alone from a figure of authority of the very institution that killed the victim. Signing this petition will show Mr Allott the scale of how many people believe he should resign.

Enough is enough’.

Nearly 11,000 people signed the petition.

On October 2, he published a more fulsome apology, reiterating the sentiment of his tweet and adding, with some much needed humility: ‘Clearly, I have much to learn, so as well as committing to working ever more closely with subject-matter expert colleagues in my own organisation and beyond, I will be seeking meetings as soon as possible with local partner organisations across North Yorkshire and the City of York that provide services to tackle male violence against women and girls, in order to deliver on their concerns and broaden my understanding of the issues’.

He realised that this was not going away when over the next few days more and more people spoke out. One of the local MPs, ex Cabinet Minister Julian Smith, said that Mr Allot’s comments were “completely unacceptable” and that he had lost the trust of women and victims’ groups.

The North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Panel was scheduled to meet on October 14. The panel scrutinises the activity of the PFCC. Government guidance about how to complain about a PFCC states that the panel is the first port of call. Where a PFCC has broken the law, the case can be referred to the Independent Office for Police Conduct, but that was not the case here.

The office of the PFCC received over 800 complaints about Mr Allot’s remarks, with the panel directly receiving over 100 complaints.

It was originally intended to be a face-to-face meeting, but with the high level of interest in Mr Allot’s appearance, the meeting was moved online.

This decision met the fury of Mr Allot’s predecessor, Julia Mulligan, who was in post from 2012-21. She took on

48

|

November 2021

|

www.fire–magazine.com

Fire & Emergency Response

Pa v

ilio nP ub

lis

d

Lt

ia

M ed

nd

hin

Police, Fire and Crime Panel The virtual meeting of the Panel on October 14 was chaired by Cllr Carl Les, leader of North Yorkshire County Council. Having heard a summary of the complaints against him, including the revelation that his own staff have written to the panel to complain about him, Mr Allot mounted his defence.

He reiterated his apologies, describing his “car crash of an answer” on BBC Radio York, and said it was: “Wrong, misconceived and insensitive.” He said he had written to organisations representing victims of domestic abuse and women’s groups in the county to ask to meet them and learn as he has shortcomings in his understanding about the issues. He relied on their agreement as an indication that his position was savable at that point. He believed that he could build back confidence but it would take time.

Despite all this, the entire panel, one by one, turned their back on him and said he must resign. Some talked of it being the honourable thing to do, another said it would continue to haunt him if he remained in office.

Having spent over an hour on this matter, the panel unanimously voted for a motion of no-confidence in him. They knew they could not make him resign and he did not respond to the vote. The meeting was suspended and the rest of the agenda was abandoned at midday.

Within three hours, Mr Allot resigned. Here is part of his statement: ‘Following this morning’s meeting of the Police and Crime Panel it seems clear to me that the task will be exceptionally difficult if it is possible at all. It would take a long time and a lot of resources of my office and the many groups who do excellent work supporting victims.

‘This is time victims do not have. There are women and girls in York and North Yorkshire today suffering at the hands of men. Victims and the groups who support them need to be heard. They cannot be heard if the airwaves are filled with discussion about my future.

‘That is why I am doing the honourable thing and resigning as Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner – to restore confidence in the office which I believe will be almost impossible for me to do, and to enable victims’ voices to be heard clearly without the distraction of the continued furore which surrounds me’.

His position was untenable and he knew it, with so much opposition from so many directions, he simply could not remain in the job. Ultimately, it was up to him, as no one could remove him from office outside of the election cycle.

Procedural Flaw for PCCs There is no recall procedure for PCCs/PFCCs as there is with members of parliament. Introduced in the UK in 2015, recall is the process whereby the electorate in an area can trigger a special election to remove a representative before the end of their term. It only applies in limited circumstances, mostly around conviction of an offence or suspension from the House.

The Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 created Police and Crime Commissioners, adding in the potential to take on the governance of fire through provisions in the Policing and Crime Act 2017. There are four ways to remove a PCC: electoral irregularity; resignation; death; or if the High Court declares it so.

The Home Office is due to publish a White Paper about the Fire and Rescue Service and it is likely to contain discussion and proposals about governance. This was indicated by the March 2021 statement from the Home Secretary, reporting the findings of part one of the review of police and crime commissioners.

Priti Patel said: “The review kick-started our work on Fire Service governance and the findings signalled strong support for a directly-elected individual taking on fire functions to help simplify and strengthen the governance of fire and rescue services across England.”

With only four police, fire and crime commissioners in post so far, the policy has not been a great success in changing the way that fire and rescue services are governed. A firm hand will be needed and that may involve changes to the law to transfer fire functions to police and crime commissioners. The experience of Mr Allot does not bode well for inspiring confidence in moving governance of fire to PCCs. Mr Allot’s words revealed an attitude about women that has no place in fire and rescue services and did an immense disservice to the people of North Yorkshire who deserved better from their elected representative.

The reliance on one person rather than a fire and rescue authority made up of elected councillors looks weak in the face of what has happened in North Yorkshire. If he had not resigned, they would have had to wait until the next elections in 2024 and that would simply be too long.

Later in his Radio York interview, Mr Allot was asked, in the light of the sentencing of Sarah Everard’s killer, what should happen to the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Cressida Dick. He replied: “She should go away and consider her position.” Perhaps Mr Allot should have done that himself and resigned earlier, and now that he has, it was absolutely the right thing to do.

He was the story and a distraction, now North Yorkshire can begin the process of electing someone to oversee police and fire who can demonstrate the skills, empathy and leadership they deserve.

ga

In an added twist to this sorry episode, one of the applicants who was to be appointed as a co-opted member of the Police, Fire and Crime Panel dropped out, citing Mr Allot’s appearance on Radio York.

“The reliance on one person rather than a fire and rescue authority made up of elected councillors looks weak in the face of what has happened in North Yorkshire” www.fire–magazine.com

|

November 2021

| 49