police and crime commissioner

Final runners and riders for the police commissioner stakes

Labour's Bob Jones clear favourite, but could be unseated by very low turnout

By:
Published October 19, 2012, in Police Commissioners


With no dramatic late entrants into the field, seven candidates will contest the first election for West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner on November 15.

Nominations are now closed and most experts regard Labour’s Bob Jones as the clear favourite.

Based on the latest national opinion polls, and on the results of local government elections this May, it would be a huge shock to the Labour Party if Mr Jones, a Wolverhampton councillor and long-standing police authority member, did not win.

However, it is just possible that Labour’s hopes could yet be dashed by

Continues…

‘I’ll make travelling on public transport safer’, pledges PCC candidate

Bob Jones issues manifesto to tackle anti-social behaviour on buses, trams and trains

By:
Published October 11, 2012, in Police Commissioners


Labour Party police commissioner candidate Bob Jones has outlined proposals which he says will make it safer to use public transport in the West Midlands.

If he is elected PCC in November, Mr Jones will negotiate with operators to give Special Constables free travel on buses, trams and local train services, bringing them into line with the privileges enjoyed by police officers and police community support officers.

Other pledges in a safer travel manifesto include:

  • Retaining safer travel teams to continue the fight against crime.
  • Expanding night time taxi-marshall schemes in trouble hotspots.
  •  Expanding the use of temporary CCTV cameras to cover trouble hotspots at bus interchanges and train and bus stations.
  • Working with Centro and operators to compile a database of graffiti tags and other intelligence to tackle the issue of vandalism to stops, stations and vehicles.

Mr Jones outlined his plans during a visit to

Continues…

Rounding up the usual suspects

Police Commissioners offer a kind of radicalism, but only the old guard need apply

By:
Published July 3, 2012, in Police Commissioners


Simon Weston, the Falkland’s War veteran, has abandoned his attempt to become Police and Crime Commissioner in South Wales saying that he was dismayed that the role had already become politicised.

Perhaps the horrifically scarred survivor of the attack on RFA Sir Galahad in 1982 was a little naïve in thinking that PCC contests would be anything other than political, but he has correctly identified a glass ceiling in UK public affairs – there is generally no place for the free thinking independents.

Mr Weston was determined not to tie himself to a political party. He wanted to be an Independent PCC. Naturally, this being South Wales, if he had quietly joined the Labour Party a few years ago and worked his way up the ranks, Mr Weston would probably have been a shoo-in for PCC.

It is not generally remembered now, but one of the big ideas to flow from the first Blair government post-1997 was the notion that

Continues…

Tory duo in battle for Police Commissioner job

Bennett and Tildesley head to head in open primary elections

By:
Published June 27, 2012, in Police Commissioners


)

Two Conservatives are battling it out to decide who is to be the party’s candidate for West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner.

Former Birmingham city councillor Matt Bennett and Solihull borough councillor Joe Tildesley must face a series of four open primary hustings which will determine whose name goes on to the ballot paper for the PCC election on November 15.

Anyone on the Electoral Roll in the Police Authority Area may register to attend and vote at the meetings by emailing [email protected] .

The primaries will be held in Erdington on July 4, Walsall on July 5, Halesowen on July 10, with the final session at Solihull on July 11.

The process, throwing the final decision open to non-party members, is in contrast to the Labour Party’s tightly controlled selection for PCC candidate, which saw only 29 per cent of members take part and resulted in victory for Wolverhampton councillor Bob Jones.

Both of the prospective Conservative candidates are expected to criticise Coun Jones’ longstanding membership of the West Midlands Police Authority, painting him as ‘yesterday’s man’.

Jim Cooper, chairman of the Conservative organising committee, said: “The new Police and Crime Commissioner will be elected to represent the views of the public. We believe the public should have a voice in selecting our candidate.

“The Labour Party has restricted the choice to their members only and they have selected someone who has already been a member of the police authority for 27 years. Where are the new ideas?”

Matt Bennett served as a councillor in Birmingham for Stockland Green ward from 2008 to 2012 and is a former executive member for children’s social care. His career outside of politics has been in public and voluntary sector management.

Mr Bennett said: “I am looking forward to these open primaries which are a great way of engaging with the public. I will use them to put across my message that we need tougher policing in the areas where antisocial behaviour is at its worst and that the rights of the public, in particular those who are victims of crime, are paramount.”

Coun Tildesley is a former Inspector in the West Midlands force with 30 years of policing experience.

During the last five years of his service he was a national Police Federation official working in London and also the West Midland Police Federation Chairman.

Operationally, he saw service throughout the West Midlands and worked in a number of specialist positions in the Traffic Department, Plain Clothes, Special Patrol Group and the Training Department. He received nine Commendations for outstanding police work.

He was elected to Solihull Council in May 2007. He was re-elected in 2011 with both the largest personal vote and majority of the seventeen seats up for election. He is the cabinet member for Education, Children and Young People.

  • A YouGov opinion poll has found limited support for Police and Crime Commissioners, with just 34 per cent saying they thought the new role was a good idea and would give a voice to the public. Just under half of Conservative supporters backed PCCs in the study.
Related articles

  • Recent Comments

    • Birmingham planning department 'war' on conservations with overhaul of heritage watchdog group: Curated from Bir...
    • RT @: BREAKING NEWS: Cube's commercial elements sold in undisclosed deal
    • Service Birmingham chairman trashes his own company: Birmingham City Council’s private sector IT provider is ...

  • Published by

  • .

  • Weekly bulletins

  • Subscribe


  • Archives