On November 15, we go to the polls to elect a new police commissioner for North Yorkshire. We shouldn’t let voter apathy determine who runs our local police, warns STEPHEN LEWIS.
The organisation which represents rank-and-file police officers in North Yorkshire has called for a proper public debate over the election of the county’s first police commissioner in November.
It is less than six months until we will go to the polls. But there is still only one officially declared candidate for the £70,000-a-year post – and few people outside police circles really understand the significance of what will be happening on November 15, says Mark Botham, chairman of the North Yorkshire Police Federation.
Mr Botham said the new police commissioner will have huge powers.
He or she will hire and fire the chief constable – the first job will be to find a permanent replacement for Tim Madgwick, who is acting as interim chief constable until the election.
The Commissioner will also set the police budget and local policing priorities, and decide how Home Office money is allocated for everything from domestic violence and women’s refuges to drugs rehabilitation and youth offending.
They will set the whole tone and ethos of the police force and of the county’s wider approach to tackling crime, in other words. Do we want to give young offenders a second chance, or criminalise them from a young age? How much of a priority should tackling domestic violence be? Should we spend money trying to rehabilitate drug users, or spend more on catching dealers?
“They will have phenomenal power,” Mr Botham said. “This is going to be a really big shake-up. People need to realise that it has the potential to affect everybody. There needs to be a proper public debate.”
In many ways, the reforms have been rushed through, Mr Botham said.
There is a whole host of issues that do not seem to have been properly thrashed out.
Most candidates are likely to be political, since the £5,000 deposit needed to throw your hat into the ring will deter many people.
But what will happen if voters in neighbouring force areas elect commissioners from different political parties? Will that affect the forces’ ability to work together?
And what if, in North Yorkshire, we elect a candidate from York? Will they understand the policing needs of rural areas of the county, or vice versa?
And what if the police commissioner and his police and crime panel – a body of local councillors and ordinary members of the public that will be set up to hold the commissioner to account – disagree over the budget? The panel could veto the budget. What would happen then? Would there be a referendum?
Would the Home Secretary have to make a decision? Or would the whole budget-making process be paralysed?
These are all crucial issues to which we don’t really know the answer yet, Mr Botham said.
The only candidate to have been officially nominated so far is City of York councillor Ruth Potter, who will be the official Labour candidate for the post.
The Conservatives have yet to choose a candidate – though York councillor Ian Gillies and North Yorkshire county councillors Mike Jordan and Carl Les are all said to be in the running. Former North Yorkshire deputy chief constable Peter Walker is also said to be interested.
Once candidates are officially declared, it is vital that there is a proper public debate, Mr Botham said.
The danger is that there will be huge public apathy and a low turnout at the polls come November 15.
Ideally, Mr Botham said, there should be a series of hustings debates across the county, at which voters get the chance to quiz candidates.
“People need to see who the candidates are and what they stand for – we need to start getting into their ribs and asking questions,” he said.
City of York Council chief executive Kersten England, who as the police authority’s returning officer will be in charge of staging the elections for police commissioner, agrees with Mr Botham that it is vital that people exercise their right to vote on November 15.
“We will be vesting a lot of authority in these individuals (the new police commissioners),” she said. “So if you have a view on who you think should be police commissioner, you should go to express it at the ballot box.”
Nationally, there has been concern at the lack of attention being paid to the elections. The Electoral Commission, amongst others, has been critical of a Government decision not to fund freepost mailings for candidates. Instead, voters will have to access a central website to get information about candidates in their region.
It is seen as a hugely important issue, because in a rural county like North Yorkshire candidates will have to reach out to voters across the county – unlike in council elections, when they only have to reach voters in one particular ward.
Mrs England would not be drawn on that debate. Candidates in North Yorkshire would be responsible for running their own campaigns, she said.
“However, it will be my responsibility to ensure that people are able to engage in the democratic process. I will be working on a communications plan.”
Watch this space.
Becoming a candidate
Candidates do not need to belong to a political party. However, each candidate must put up a deposit of £5,000 pounds, which will be forfeit if they win fewer than 5 per cent of the votes cast.
Candidates must also obtain the signatures of 100 local electors. Candidates must be British, Commonwealth or EU citizens, aged 18 or over, who live in the police force area.
Public servants cannot stand unless they first retire from their posts; and nor can anyone who has been convicted of an imprisonable offence.
• To find out more, visit the North Yorkshire Police Authority website – nypa.gov.uk/pcc – or the website of the electoral commission at electoralcommission.org.uk
How it will work
Voters will go to the polls to elect North Yorkshire’s first police commissioner on November 15.
There will be 730 polling stations across North Yorkshire and York – for most people, they will be the same as the polling stations used for general elections.
The voting system will be different, however. It will be the ‘supplementary vote system’. Voters will each be asked to choose a first and second preference candidate.
If no candidate wins more than 50 per cent of first preference votes, the two most popular candidates will be entered into a run-off vote, where second preference votes will be counted.
Whoever wins will take up his or her post on November 22.
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