Elected Police Commissioners: Democratic or pseudo-democratic?

Nick Herbert has a propaganda piece in the Telegraph today about the joys and 'accountability' that elected police commissioners will bring to policing in the UK.

Over the past 14 years, we have witnessed the transformation of our police from friendly 'Bobbies' to arrogant, big state, militarised thugs who terrorise the public and who seldom suffer appropriate penalty for their illiberal, Stasi-like behaviour.

Labour complain that electing police commissioners would have the effect of politicising the police - as if the system they instituted did not - viz Ian Blair (whose peership I do not recognise as warranted).

So I welcome plans which would make the police more accountable - only I have yet to be convinced that the government's policy will achieve that goal.

Far too many questions arise, and I fear I won't like the answers to any of them.

• How will candidate commissioners' campaigns be funded? 
• Will they be permitted to accept large donations from big business?  
• Given that the EU has stated that it will 'contribute' to elections and campaigns in member states where it feels that the issues in question have a bearing on EU issues ("what doesn't?", you might ask), will the EU be able to donate to their campaigns?

From exactly which sectors or 'stakeholder' bodies will the the body which imposes "strict checks and balances" draw its members?  Will such slots be available to ordinary members of the public? Will they have open meetings which the public can attend?

I believe a democratic system could work, but I'm afraid I have no confidence in the government's notion of "democratic accountability"; its track record to date has been dire.