RE David Haworth’s letter, Police are servants of the Crown (March 7).

I think few people would see a distinction between being a public servant and a “servant of the Crown”.

Officers are there to serve the public and uphold the law. When they take office they take a vow to serve the Crown “with fairness, integrity, diligence and impartiality, upholding fundamental human rights and according equal respect to all people”.

Yes, that oath is to the Crown, but in a democracy such as ours, the head of state is a proxy for the people.

This is a solemn and binding commitment for officers to serve the public without fear or favour. It is also a powerful recognition of the unique position the police hold in our society.

It is absolutely the case that the police must have operational independence and part of my role is to ensure that is the case.

Indeed, I made my own solemn declaration when I took office that I would not interfere with the operational independence of the police service.

This is a promise I take extremely seriously — to the extent where I believe that Police and Crime Commissioners who fail to live up to this responsibility should be booted out of office. There is no contradiction in having an independent police service and having democratic oversight of policing.

Indeed, effective democratic governance for the police is not just a preferable state of affairs, it is a prerequisite in a free country.

I am afraid David is wrong. Part of the police’s role is to facilitate peaceful protest. Everyone in our country has the right to demonstrate. It is a police officer’s duty to ensure this legal right is upheld.

Of course it isn’t as simple as that. Often the right to demonstrate is in conflict with other legal rights that people have to go about their normal business, which creates complex operations where the police are often thrown in the middle.

My role is not to dictate how the chief constable should instruct his officers, but I have a responsibility to scrutinise police actions to ensure what they do is in the public interest.

GMP has a good record in how it polices demonstrations. But for the police to continue to do a good job they must be scrutinised, which is why I have set up an independent panel on the policing of protests and demonstrations.

This has been done with the full support of the chief constable, who recognises that policing benefits from independent oversight.

Tony LloydCommissioner