On 15 November the people of Staffordshire will vote for someone to take on the new role of Staffordshire Police and Crime Commissioner.
The role of Police and Crime Commissioner is not one to be taken lightly, from the Staffordshire Police briefing pack for PCC candidates,
The PCC will replace the Staffordshire Police Authority on 22 November 2012, following local elections on 15 November 2012. The role of a PCC is a large and complex job which will require a significant commitment both in terms of time and energy. You will be accountable to the 1 million plus people who make up the force area of Staffordshire, and will be responsible for many areas of work beyond those currently undertaken by police authorities which you will replace. Importantly, you will be required to engage with the many diverse communities of Staffordshire to ensure you fully understand their views in order that the way you undertake this role reflects those concerns. Whilst you are not responsible for the policing itself (that is the Chief Constable who has operational independence on such matters), he is accountable to you for the delivery of efficient and effective policing, management of resources and expenditure, and ultimately the delivery of policing in your area.
Given the size of the area that you will be responsible for, this job carries a significant workload and all year round time commitment. As an elected individual, you will be accountable to the electorate of the Staffordshire Police force area. You are likely to be invited to attend many events across the force area, which will not always be held at conventional times or venues. You may wish to make yourself visible and accessible around the force and available at various times of the week, including weekends, to ensure that the public has the opportunity to interact with you. Policing is, by its very nature, a 24 hour business, and whilst you will not have operational responsibility for policing, there could be occasions when you could be called upon at short notice, to provide reassurance to the community, or to ensure that the appropriate decisions can be taken.
The Staffordshire Police and Crime Commissioner will attract a salary of £75,000 with the option to appoint a paid, deputy Police and Crime Commissioner to assist them.
More details of the Staffordshire Police and Crime Commissioners role can be found in the PCC briefing pack from Staffordshire Police.
The Candidates
- Joy Garner – Confirmed as the Labour candidate
- Matthew Ellis – Confirmed as the Conservative candidate
Possible Candidates
Liberal Democrats
The Lib Dems are not expected to be fielding a candidate in Staffordshire as far as we are aware.
Independents
We have not yet heard of any confirmed independent candidates although there are rumours of at least one coming forward.
Has anyone been approached by either of the candidates because I’ve seen absolutely nothing?It looks to me very much like the police are going to be politicised which is the last thing we need. Still it’ll be a good earner for another trough full of politicians.
So on the one hand we have a committee of people drawn from a wide spectrum including people actively engaged in the criminal justice system who are to be replaced by a single entity with a party political background.
One of whom has openly stated she is opposed to the Tory led cuts and the other demonstrating his total ignorance by stating he wants the police to clamp down harder on certain antisocial behaviours.
Both amply demonstrating a staggering ignorance of the way Policing works in this country.
So having said that I suppose I should explain where the problems really lie … Imagine if you will that the criminal Justice system is akin to a sausage machine … product goes in one end in an unprocessed state and hopefully from the other end emerges a well rounded and useful citizen after passing through the hands of various organisations.
So the Police are responsible for supplying the raw product in terms of persons arrested for various offences some relatively minor some extremely serious … so in they go … then the product is subjected to procedures enacted by the CPS and ultimately the court system be it Crown or Magistrate and finally if necessary the Prison Service who arguably are the most important in terms of correctional behaviour.
If any of the above fail in any way to carry out their function to a sufficiently high standard then the end product will be flawed and in this system that usually manifests itself by recidivism, to the detriment of society at large.
Unless the Police Commissioner is going to wield influence over all the parts of the ‘machine’ then no amount of bluster, political or otherwise is going to make one jot of difference. The members of the present Police Authority will still be paid as they will go back to their ‘day jobs’ and the Magistrates input will be lost plus the wage costs and pensions commitment will be enlarged.
The Chief Officers already meet the public regularly through consultative meetings and in Staffordshire what is needed is a period of prolonged stability as it has been in a state of flux since the late 90′s.
Policing is not about popularity it is about enforcing the laws of the country in an impartial and fair manner no more no less.
The Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) will have the following key roles:
Holding the chief constable to account for the delivery of the force;
Setting and updating a police and crime plan;
Setting the force budget and precept;
Regularly engaging with the public and communities;
Appointing and where necessary dismissing, the chief constable.
No matter how differently things are done under the watchful eye of the PCC, the police will still pass their cases to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
The CPS will still decide whether or not to prosecute a case after considering three tests – whether there is prima-facie evidence, whether it is in the public interest and whether there is a reasonable prospect of conviction. The latter is influenced by prosecutors’ performance-related pay – no conviction, no pay. Last year the CPS abandoned 193,000 of the 1.5 million cases passed on by the police.
Therefore I cannot see what benefits will accrue to the criminal justice system and how the public will benefit by the appointment of a PCC.