The City of London Corporation as a Police
Authority for the Square Mile
Policing Pledge
A year ago, City of London Police launched its Local Policing
Pledge. The Pledge sets out levels of service the public, who live,
work or visit the City, can expect from their local police
force.
The Force has been looking at how it can improve the services it
provides to the City and has undertaken a public consultation
exercise to make you aware of some proposed changes to its Policing
Pledge and seek your views.
Further details are available on the Force’s
website.
The Police Committee
The Court of Common Council is the Police Authority for the
Square Mile as set out in the City of London Police Act 1839.
Under Section 56 of the Act, the Common Council set up a Police
Committee to carry the Act into effect and delegated to the Police
Committee all its functions under the Act (with the exception of
the appointment of the Commissioner), a system which still
continues notwithstanding subsequent legislation.
The Police Committee was previously made up of 17 Members (i.e.
local councillors) from the Court of Common Council, however, this
changed in April 2009, when two seats (from the 17) were taken up
by external members (ie non-elected Members). The reason for this
change was to strengthen the direct input by the various City
communities into the work of its police authority.
Members are elected to the Committee by their peers in the
Common Council and serve for four year terms which can be renewed.
View
the current Membership of the Police Committee here.
Members of the Police Committee are eligible to serve on other
Committees of the City Corporation, where they can gain knowledge
of its role as a Local Authority and the services it provides. This
enables them to take into account not only local views on policing,
but also to understand what impact the City Corporation’s functions
may have on policing issues, eg community services, housing,
licensing, road safety, etc.
View the scheduled meetings of the Police Committee here.
The Committee is subject to many of the same Standing Orders as
are applied to other Committees appointed by the Court of Common
Council, but there are some exceptions in relation to financial
issues. For example, the Police Committee is required to operate
within a cash-limited budget and, unlike other Service Committees,
may not request additional funds to be made available – other than
in the case of an extreme emergency.
Download the Standing Orders here
Court of Common Council (517kb)
The Police Committee meets six times a year to consider relevant
issues pertaining to its remit. It also appoints a Reference Sub
Committee to deal with any matters requiring attention between
meetings and there is a Police Complaints Sub Committee
specifically responsible for considering complaints made against
police officers.
Officers to the Authority
Chief Executive
The Town Clerk & Chief Executive of the City of London
Corporation,
Chris Duffield, is Chief Executive of the Police Authority. He
is responsible for overseeing all Police Authority staff, and works
closely with the Chairman and all Members to ensure that there is
an effective and efficient police service in the City.
Treasurer
Chris Bilsland, the Chamberlain of London, is the Section 151
Officer for the City of London Police Authority, and performs the
functions of the Treasurer to the Authority.
Monitoring Officer
The Monitoring Officer of the Police Authority is Andrew Colvin,
the Comptroller and City Solicitor.
Officers
The support staff to the Police Authority are Clare Chadwick,
Ignacio Falcon, and Gregory Moore, who carry out the functions of
the Chief Executive in the Committee forum.
To contact the Clerk to the Police Committee please use the
following contact details
Or alternatively, please contact
Partnerships
Safer City Partnership
The Committee works closely with the Safer City Partnership, and
is indeed represented by two Members
(George
Gillon and
Simon
Duckworth) who sit on the Partnership’s Steering Group.
The Group brings together a number of organisations for
addressing community safety. The Partnership aims to reduce the
level of crime, disorder, antisocial behaviour and substance use in
the Square Mile, and at present is focusing particularly on the
following areas:
For further information, please visit the Partnership’s
dedicated webpages at
www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/safercity
The City Together
The Police Committee also works with The City’s Local Strategic
Partnership, The City Together, which brings together key public,
private and voluntary sector providers in the City together with
representatives from the City’s resident, business, worker and
faith communities. Its vision is that the City of London will build
on its success as the world’s leading international financial and
business centre and will maintain high quality, accessible and
responsible services benefiting its communities, its neighbours,
London and the nation. Making the City safer and stronger is one of
the five priority themes that support the Vision.
For further information, please visit The City Together’s
dedicated webpages at www.thecitytogether.org
Independent Custody Visitors
In 2002, the Government introduced the Police Reform Act to help
regulate certain police responsibility. Section 51 of the Act came
in force as of 1 April 2003 and placed the previously well
established practice of "lay visiting", whereby volunteers attended
police stations to check on the treatment of detainees, on a
statutory footing. The provision requires every police authority,
including the City of London, to: (a) make arrangements for
detainees to be visited by persons appointed under those
arrangements; and (b) to keep those arrangements under review. The
arrangements are referred to as "Independent Custody Visiting
Schemes".
The Police Committee has since agreed its own Scheme in order to
safeguard the welfare of people detained in City of London Police
Stations. As part of this Scheme, independent visitors are
appointed to carry out regular checks on the conditions under which
detainees are kept. It is an important and valuable role in the
local community, particularly through maintaining public confidence
in this important area of policing.
Download the Independent Custody Visitors (ICV)
Scheme here (132kb)
If you are interested in becoming an Independent Custody
Visitor, please email
icv@cityoflondon.gov.uk for
more information.
Equalities
See more details on the
various equality schemes in operation at the City of London
Corporation, including the City of London Police.
Links
Please use the links below to access other websites that may be
of interest.