A major review of policing headed by former Scotland Yard chief Lord Stevens is to be set up by Labour, shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper is set to announce.
The independent inquiry, which Ms Cooper expects to take a strongly reforming approach, will shape Labour's policies on the future of the police.
Lord Stevens, who retired from the Metropolitan Police in 2005, will be joined by Kathleen O'Toole, an ex-commissioner of Boston Police, and former Gloucestershire chief constable Tim Brain.
The review - which Labour sources stress will be at arms-length from the party - is intended to bypass the Government's refusal to hold a Royal Commission on police reform.
Ms Cooper will announce the move in her keynote speech to the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool, when she will also invoke Tony Blair's famous "tough on the causes of crime" refrain.
She will accuse the Tories of "chaos and confusion" on police reform. "Now is the time for a serious vision for the future of policing - a Royal Commission or heavyweight independent review. The government has refused to do so. So we will," she will say. "We are setting up an independent review to look at the crime challenges of the 21st century and how policing needs to adapt and respond.
"Building on the best of British and international policing. Including experts from here and abroad. Vigorous and challenging on the changes needed. Working with the police not trying to undermine them."
Ms Cooper will claim that the cost of introducing elected police commissioners could save the jobs of 2,000 constables and fund anti-gang initiatives.
She reckons the bill for elected chiefs will be £100 million, although ministers dispute that figure. "Next year, in Olympic year, the government will spend over £100m electing politicians on £120,000 to become crime chiefs," she will say.
"But this is the year when the eyes of the world are upon us. Our great opportunity. But we cannot have a repeat of this summer's shameful violence and disorder. So the government should rethink. Stop the elections next year and use the money to stop crime instead."