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The 43 police authorities in England and Wales oversee the work of their local police force. Police authorities are independent bodies made up of local people.
Together with the Home Secretary and chief police officers, they are responsible for the management of policing in England and Wales. This is often referred to as the tripartite relationship.
It is a police authority's job to:
 Appoint (and, if necessary, dismiss) chief constables and senior police officers.
Consult with local communities to find out what they want the local police to do.
Set the budget for their police force, and decide how much local people should pay for policing in the local council tax.
Set the strategic direction for policing locally and decide what the police should focus attention on locally based on their consultations with local communities.
Make sure the police force is continuing to do a better job. | |
Durham Police Authority
Durham Police Authority is an independent body established under the Police Act 1996. There are seventeen
members who represent the people of County Durham and Darlington and whose mission is to:
..."work in partnership to ensure that fair, effective
and visible policing is delivered to all our communities"...
Role
The core role of Durham Police Authority is to secure the maintenance of an efficient and effective police force in County Durham and Darlington and seek to improve policing performance and standards.
We must listen and respond to the policing needs of the local community and determine priorities for the Chief Constable of Durham Constabulary to carry out.
In other words, it is our job to ensure that local people have a say in how they are policed and to hold the police force to account for the services delivered.
Functions
To fulfil our role to secure an efficient and effective police force, we must:
Make sure local people get best value from their local police.
Hold the police budget and decide how much council tax should be raised for policing.
Consult as widely as we can with local people to find out what they want from their local police.
Set local policing priorities based on what local people say matters to them and targets for achievement.
Monitor everything the police do and how well they perform against the targets set by the Authority.
Publish a 3 year plan and an annual plan which tells local people what they can expect from their police service and report back at the end of the year.
Oversee complaints against the police and discipline senior officers if necessary.
Appoint the chief constable and senior police officers.
Funding
Each year we must set the budget for the force. This determines the level of finance available to provide a police service in County Durham and Darlington during the forthcoming financial year.
The budget is made up of a combination of central government funding and non domestic rates and council taxes raised locally. We collect these sums through a 'precept' upon billing authorities, usually district councils, who in turn collect the tax from individual householders.
For more information on funding please see our finance page.
