Elect your local sheriff

Scottish Tory leader David McLetchie will be speaking at the UK Conservative conference in Blackpool. He will be opposing the creation of regional assemblies in England. No surprise there but I was intrigued by this:

The Scottish Tory leader will also refer to reforming the police service to make it more locally accountable, although he will make no mention of the proposals to be launched this week by the shadow home secretary for smaller police forces in England and Wales with elected police chiefs in the manner of the sheriff system used in the United States.

An aide to the Scottish leader said that this was not being considered north of the border, where the problems were similar to elsewhere but the solutions would be different.

So what "different" solutions are to be advocated for Scotland? This looks like a cop-out - no pun intended but the sanction of being voted out by the people is precisely what should be faced by senior police officers and indeed judges.