The extent to which police programmes are accountable to national oversight bodies in an age of localism should be clarified for local leaders who have responded positively to the changes in policing

The transformation of policing is real and is gathering momentum. Nick Gargan argues that police chiefs have welcomed and risen to the new localism agenda but central bodies are still administering direct oversight of programmes making it unclear where ultimate accountability lies. The recent Select Committee session on mobile technologies in policing foreshadows a possible local and national tug-of-war.