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Police Commissioner elections.
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Does anyone have any misgivings about this new Police and Crimes Commissioner? I feel sceptical about the whole set-up. Apart from the fact that it is a Political intervention into police matters - which leads me to think that the piper plays the tune - once the Politicians have a foot in the door they can dictate where the Police are told to go. Police State?? Also I seem to recall that we rejected the Alternative Vote by referendum earlier this year, but the vote we are asked to give is going to be used in the same way as an AV. Can this be legal if it has been rejected? This whole thing is being dumbed down and bits of information about the candidates and the process of voting is given in an obscure way. I'm not going to vote for PCC I don't agree with it -but what else can you do? People such as John Prescott are raring to pick up between £65.000 to £100.000 pa. for this scheme.
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People didn't fight for the right to vote so that it would be used just for the sake of it. The democratic process has been ignored and the public have been treated with a lack of respect. I won't be voting because I have not been included in the process.
07:48 Wed 07th Nov 2012
They are all MP's boxy. In our area there are four candidates the favourite is an ex Policeman, Labour, another is a woman a Tory. Another is an ex copper Independent whose brother has been investigated for fraud and subsequently him too, I think he's had to come clean about this in case it goes against his chance of winning (which it has). The fourth is another Independent candidate that we know nothing about. At £5.000 each to join the race for a term of 4 years.
I rang the help line to see if it was essential to vote for two people (you can vote for your first and second choice. The choices were so poor, as you have said gran, that I only had one choice. The woman said it was okay, so I just voted for one, and that was only because I knew her slightly. What a waste of time, paper, and money.
Yes, I do have some reservations about the whole process. I would question just how democratic the process is if you have a very low turnout, and all the indicators would suggest that this is likely to be the case.
I can sort of sympathise with the original idea behind having a police and crime commissioner. They will be taking on and expanding the role of the current police authorities, which are for most people an anonymous organisation. The idea is to offer an easily recognised and contactable individual, whose remit is to engage with local communities and develop localised policing priorities, and in turn communicate these desires to the police.
Thats the theory, but it seems a big gamble to me. I do not know, for example, if they will replace the current police authority framework, or will they just add another layer of bureaucracy and expense - nevermind the expense of having elections every 5 years or so. I would also like to know a lot more about the proposed salary and expenses.Given that prospective candidates have to stump up £5,000, it does tend to exclude independent candidates in favour of those who have the machinery of a political party behind them, so there is that concern that this will politicize the whole process.
I will probably vote, because I hate to waste a vote, but I have seen a clip of my local PCC candidates (Hertfordshire) and I was not impressed by their lack of knowledge of the current policing staff and budget, or their vagueness when it came to what they would bring to the role.
I can sort of sympathise with the original idea behind having a police and crime commissioner. They will be taking on and expanding the role of the current police authorities, which are for most people an anonymous organisation. The idea is to offer an easily recognised and contactable individual, whose remit is to engage with local communities and develop localised policing priorities, and in turn communicate these desires to the police.
Thats the theory, but it seems a big gamble to me. I do not know, for example, if they will replace the current police authority framework, or will they just add another layer of bureaucracy and expense - nevermind the expense of having elections every 5 years or so. I would also like to know a lot more about the proposed salary and expenses.Given that prospective candidates have to stump up £5,000, it does tend to exclude independent candidates in favour of those who have the machinery of a political party behind them, so there is that concern that this will politicize the whole process.
I will probably vote, because I hate to waste a vote, but I have seen a clip of my local PCC candidates (Hertfordshire) and I was not impressed by their lack of knowledge of the current policing staff and budget, or their vagueness when it came to what they would bring to the role.
I posted about this on another thread somewhere .
I discussed it with my brother who's an ex copper .I thought if anyone would vote on this he would ,but no he won't and he held forth about it at some great length !
He says it 's jobs for the boys and a gravy train for people like Mr Prescott .
He said of one of our candidates that he wouldn't trust to him look after his push bike for five minutes let alone run a commission.
I won't be voting either .It'll probably be damp squib the same as the elected mayor thing .People didn't want a Boris in every town .
I discussed it with my brother who's an ex copper .I thought if anyone would vote on this he would ,but no he won't and he held forth about it at some great length !
He says it 's jobs for the boys and a gravy train for people like Mr Prescott .
He said of one of our candidates that he wouldn't trust to him look after his push bike for five minutes let alone run a commission.
I won't be voting either .It'll probably be damp squib the same as the elected mayor thing .People didn't want a Boris in every town .
It will be the first time I have not used a vote. This is a Political move and Cameron/Clegg is adamant about it, like it or lump it. The AV vote was one of Cleggs babies which fell on stony ground, but is now resurrected for this voting process. Which makes me suspicious of the real motives behind politicising the Police. The face of the Police force doesn't need an MP or Baron aka Prescott to tell us that they will put things right for us. Why couldn't it be an ordinary Chief of Police?
I sympathise with those of you who have decided not to vote. I'm sure the suffragettes would not disapprove if they knew this was just another way of making your voice heard and not through apathy.
I chose to vote, albeit reluctantly, so that I had the right to complain to my MP if it turns out that the whole plan was a bad idea, as I suspect it will be.
I chose to vote, albeit reluctantly, so that I had the right to complain to my MP if it turns out that the whole plan was a bad idea, as I suspect it will be.
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