The first ever elections for Police and Crime Commissioners will be held on 15 November 2012.
Each of the 41 police force areas in England and Wales, outside of London, will directly-elect a Commissioner.
Commissioners are at the heart of the Government's programme of decentralisation, where power is returned to people and communities.
Instead of bureaucratic, Whitehall-led control of the police we will see democratic accountability with the public having a real say over how their area is policed.
What will Police and Crime Commissioners do?
Commissioners will be local figures with powerful mandates from the public to drive the fight against crime and anti-social behaviour.
Commissioners will decide policing strategy and the force budget. They will set the local council tax precept and appoint - and if necessary dismiss - the chief constable. And all of this will be done on behalf of the public who elect them.
Police and Crime Commissioners will replace the existing police authorities and have a much larger role.
As their title - Police and Crime Commissioners - suggests they will have a broad remit to ensure community safety, with their own budgets to prevent crime and tackle drugs.
Working with local authorities, community safety partnerships and local criminal justice boards, Commissioners will help bring a strategic coherence to the actions of these organisations across each police force.
The Commissioners will also have responsibility for strategic policing - they will have to address national issues as well as local concerns.
A single and accountable individual
Commissioners will be a single elected individual who will take executive decisions, supported by a highly qualified team.
The principle of one accountable individual, directly responsible for the totality of police force activity is central to the Government's vision of the new policing landscape.
The buck will stop with commissioners, and the public will cast judgement at the ballot box, voting out commissioners who don't cut crime or address local concerns.
But Police and Crime Commissioners won't have day-to-day control over operational policing - they won't be able to tell a sworn officer of the crown who to arrest.
The candidate
We're looking for very high calibre candidates for what will be high profile and public roles.
Police and Crime Commissioners will have to be leaders.
Commissioners will need to work with the police as well as with other local agencies while engaging with the public and the media.
We will be casting the net widely and certainly will look beyond those who have previously worked on police authorities.
Commissioners could come with experience as business leaders, from military or policing backgrounds, from national as well as local politics, or from other fields.