POLICE REVOLT OVER 'SOFT' DRUGS POLICY

CONCESSIONS over new drug laws and police reforms will be announced this
week as the Government battles to shore up its crime-fighting credentials.

David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, is to announce further safeguards
against the political control of chief constables when the Police Bill
begins its final passage through the Commons this week. These are expected
to include a key concession giving police authorities the power to amend or
reject Home Office action plans imposed on failing constabularies.

Chief constables are alarmed that proposed new powers, allowing the Home
Secretary to remove senior officers, will undermine the tradition dating
back more than 160 years that police are independent of political control.

On Wednesday, when Mr Blunkett will effectively decriminalise personal use
of cannabis, he is also expected to promise that the maximum sentences for
dealers of the drug will be doubled from five to ten years. This is intended
to reassure critics, who include senior figures in the police and the
Cabinet, who fear that the reclassification of cannabis as a class C drug is
sending out the wrong message.

Although the police will be able only to hand penalty tickets to most people
caught in possession of small amounts of the drug, the measures may allow
officers to arrest cannabis users where there are "aggravating
circumstances" .

Ministers are keen to avoid further clashes with the police in a week when
the Government is already bracing itself for publication of evidence that it
is losing the war against crime. Figures to be published by the Home Office
on Friday will show that recorded crime in 2001-02 rose by 6 per cent, with
increases in street robberies, violence and burglaries.

In a crunch week for the Home Secretary, he will be holding final meetings
with Treasury ministers over his bid for billions of pounds to spend on
police, prisons and asylum. Mr Blunkett is also expected to travel to France
on Friday for talks with the French Government designed to break the
deadlock over the future of refugees at Sangatte, near Calais.

Senior ministers including Lord Irvine of Lairg, the Lord Chancellor, and
Alan Milburn, the Health Secretary, are understood to have expressed private
reservations about aspects of the softer approach to cannabis. Sir John
Stevens, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, has also told friends that,
while experiments are fine, the new policy should not have been pioneered in
South London.

Mr Blunkett has already been forced into a series of concessions over his
police reform Bill after a revolt from officers and defeats in the House of
Lords. He has been determined, however, to retain proposed new powers
allowing him to remove chief officers and impose action plans on
constabularies deemed to be failing.

At present police authorities, with the backing of a Home Secretary, can
demand that a chief constable retires on the grounds that his force is
ineffective or inefficient. The new Bill includes an extra power to suspend
a chief constable or his deputy or assistants where public confidence is
undermined.

Details of the regulations under which such intervention would happen have
not been included in the Bill. The framework for such powers is set out,
however, in a protocol produced by the Home Office, a copy of which has been
seen by The Times.

Chief constables are alarmed at the vagueness of the regulations. The
document says: "The protocol sets out general principles in which suspension
powers will be used. However, if the Secretary of State wants to depart from
these circumstances for any reason he can do so."

A senior police commander said: "What this means is that if you don't meet
targets or adhere to certain dogmas you could be suspended." Another said: "
If this goes through, the independence of chief constables hangs by a thread
of custom and goodwill."

An aide to Mr Blunkett said last night: "We want to consult chief constables
about this, but if a police area is completely failing, there is a very
strong argument that the Home Secretary should be able to intervene."

The concession expected to be offered this week would mean that local police
authorities, including councillors and other community leaders, would be
able to act as a buffer between the Home Office and the chief constable. The
new laws would still mean that Mr Blunkett could suspend the chief constable
without any right of appeal or independent oversight.

Tim Brain, Chief Constable of Gloucestershire and head of the Chief Police
Officers' Staff Association, said he was concerned that the plans could have
constitutional implications. He suggested that removing or suspending chief
police officers for reasons other than misconduct could damage the
independence of the force.