FORMER North police chiefs have attacked the Government’s “extraordinary” plans for elected police commissioners and warned it risks high-level corruption.

John Stevens, former Northumbria chief constable and Metropolitan police commissioner, questioned how one person could be responsible for such a diverse area as that covered by Northumbria police during a debate in the House of Lords.

“What worries me about one model fitting all is a problem that relates to Northumbria in particular.

“Northumberland, to the north, is a county on its own, with the boroughs that we all know so well – Newcastle and Sunderland. For one person to try to deal with the complexity of that would be extraordinary,” said Lord Stevens of Kirkwhelpington.

He added the Government’s plans for elected police commissioners were the biggest change to the constitution of policing in 150 years and stressed the need to get that right during the second reading of the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill in the House of Lords.

“If we get it wrong, we will never sleep soundly in our beds in the future,” said Lord Stevens. Labour peer Brian Mackenzie, a former Durham police chief and adviser to Tony Blair, echoed those comments and warned morale was at an “all-time low”.

He also set out his experience from spending some months with the FBI in the United States, where many police chiefs are elected.

“I found that bringing raw politics into this arena can lead to corruption, said Lord Mackenzie of Framwellgate.

“High-level police corruption in the United States is very great compared with Britain. In my view, that is influenced by the politicisation of the police.”