Your next chief of police could be a television star

Television presenters are among those putting themselves forward as candidates to become crime commissioners, raising fresh questions about the calibre of individuals who will assume control of Britain's police forces at the end of 2012.

The former BBC Crimewatch presenter Nick Ross is among those understood to have expressed an interest in controlling who will be in charge of appointing chief constables and setting budgets and priorities.

The identity of the first potential candidates comes amid growing concerns that few people understand the government's plan to introduce elected police and crime commissioners at the head of 41 police forces in England and Wales.

A recent poll indicates three-quarters of people know nothing about the move, while some Tory MPs are privately worried about the process of choosing suitable candidates to reflect local needs and diversity issues.

Next month the police minister, Nick Herbert, will embark on a national roadshow to help drum up support and awareness of the initiative. In addition, he is believed to have instructed 41 Tory MPs – one from each area – to track down good candidates. There are also doubts over whether the process can attract sufficient candidates to fill the vacancies.

A spokesman for the Association of Police Authorities, whose role will be replaced by elected individuals, said: "The police are under no illusions; elected commissioners are the biggest change to the service in almost 200 years. This is the service of last resort on which we all ultimately rely, so it's crucial that those who would police the police are up to the job and can inspire the trust of every community."

It is yet to be decided whether candidates will be subject to Criminal Records Bureau checks, which show convictions, cautions, reprimands and warnings held on the Police National Computer along with other data stored by local forces.

Compounding the issue is whether elected police commissioners will also have to pass the highest level of security vetting in order to have access to sensitive intelligence.

According to officials, the current situation could mean the commissioner is denied access to classified material, potentially meaning they will have to make decisions without full access to information. "They could decide they are not going to share that information; that surely is a major step backwards," said a source.

Among those reported to have expressed an interest before the election process begins next year is 64-year-old television presenter Ross, who is a visiting professor at the Jill Dando Crime Science institute at University College London.

Among other high-profile candidates being floated is Baroness Helen Newlove, a Tory peer from Warrington who has campaigned against antisocial behaviour following the death of her husband, Garry, in 2007. He was murdered by drunken youths he challenged outside their home.

Colonel Tim Collins, the former army officer famed for his inspirational eve-of-battle speech to his troops in the Iraq War, has confirmed that he wants to stand as an elected police commissioner in Kent. The 51-year-old has said he wants the police to be "rat catchers, not social workers".

Other candidates include former Gloucestershire chief constable Tim Brain, who is currently on the panel of Labour's recently announced review into policing; and the former senior Metropolitan police officer Brian Paddick, who is currently the Liberal Democrat candidate for London mayor but who was also previously reported to be interested in standing as an elected police commissioner.

Critics of the scheme argue that the notion of elected commissioners will only exacerbate the debate over the "politicisation" of modern policing. Recently, Labour's national executive committee gave the go-ahead for local parties to start picking candidates for the 41 new posts.

The party is hoping that they will secure all the commissioner jobs in the north and across Wales, while the Tories assume they will win those in the south of England, rendering the Midlands forces as the chief battleground.