Member

I am sure the noble Lord, Lord Hogan-Howe, will recall that the responsibilities of independent lawyers in the misconduct system were removed under previous Governments, with senior officers replacing them as chairs of misconduct hearings. Lawyers now sit as independent legal advisers on misconduct panels; reintroducing a decision-making role for them would not only blur the lines of independence but come at greater financial cost to policing, which goes to the point that the noble Lord, Lord Cameron of Lochiel, mentioned.