A Spent Copper offers this thought on my posting below about Fake Charities:

May I nominate ACPO (Association of Chief Police Officers) for such exposure Charles?  The Government like to use them to float their ideas for policy, and they are extensively publicly funded, but they have changed their legal status and are now exempt from the provisions of the FOI Act.

So, we proceed to the website of ACPO.

And, sure enough:

The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) is not a staff association (the separately constituted Chief Police Officers’ Association fulfils that function). ACPO’s work is on behalf of the Service, rather than its own members…

The Association has the status of a private company limited by guarantee. As such, it conforms to the requirements of company law and its affairs are governed by a Board of Directors.

It is funded by a combination of a Home Office grant, contributions from each of the 44 Police Authorities, membership subscriptions and by the proceeds of its annual exhibition.

Here they are at Companies House:

Name & Registered Office:
THE ASSOCIATION OF CHIEF POLICE OFFICERS OF ENGLAND, WALES AND NORTHERN IRELAND
1ST FLOOR 10 VICTORIA STREET
LONDON
SW1H 0NN
Company No. 03344583
Status: Active
Date of Incorporation: 01/04/1997

Country of Origin: United Kingdom

Company Type: PRI/LBG/NSC/S.30 (Private, limited by guarantee, no share capital, section 30 of the Companies Act)
Nature of Business (SIC(03)):
9112 – Professional organisations

So this not a fake company. It is a real one.

But is it not odd that these people get money from the state to run a company to push out policy views of different sorts exempt from Freedom of Information requirements?

Why can they not do this within existing official structures, as senior civil servants across Whitehall do?

Don’t get me wrong. I am very fond of Laura Norder and want the police to be excellent. Good luck to all Chief Police Officers.

I just don’t like to see public money wasted and/or the state morph into exotic, uncontrolled and undemocratic formations.

So. What is going on here?