"Sir Ian Blair, commissioner of the Met, declared this week that the police must be given more resources to meet their new responsibilities for countering terrorism. 'My service will be saying to government that this really does change the way we are going to have to work,' he told local government leaders. England and Wales have become 'a single crime scene'."
Response
Our police are committed to modernising / The Guardian, 13 Sep 2005
Accountability is a top priority, says Len Duvall of the Metropolitan Police Authority
I doubt that Sir Ian Blair, commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, would recognise for a second Max Hastings' version of a world where the police are free from all accountability and unfettered by the need to explain themselves to government or the public (The police can't be exempted from disciplines we all face, September 10). Hastings' assertion that there has been no change in structures, management or governance regimes is simply not borne out by the facts.
