79 replies to this topic

[Trojan]

Blatant attempt by the Tories to get political control of the police knowing full well that it is their 'law and order' voters who are most likely to turn out.

They want a hang 'em flog 'em, bang anybody up no questions asked police force and expect it to be followed up with American style judges who can bring in their own punishments for the local police czars invented crimes.

They've got previous, but now they want to make it legal.

TBH I thought we already had a force like this in South Yorkshire! I won't be voting. It's a gimmick - another of Cameron's half baked ideas like the "big society"

[Johnoco]

It's a load of bol locks. Haven't received anything whatsoever regarding candidates or what its all about. I aren't voting for some knobhead to get a cushy job if they can't even be arsed putting a leaflet through the post. They can eff off.

[Li0nhead]

The whole idea is stupid.

What are they going to say?

Candidate A: We should be tough on crime.
Candidate B: We should be very tough on crime
Candidate C: We should be very, very tough on crime.
Candidate D: We should reach out to criminals to tend to their needs and fund them so they don't turn have to turn to crime, I have no chance do I?
Candidate E: I am a former senior politician who is a shoe in for this job to draw a income for another few years so theres no need for me to even give an opinion.

[Griff9of13]

A thing that concerns me is will funding be affected by the political affiliations of the PCC? In other words while we have a Tory government will they instinctively cut the budget to a Labour lead police force (the reverse also being possible as well), a criticism being levelled at this government by some Labour councils?

[Li0nhead]

A thing that concerns me is will funding be affected by the political affiliations of the PCC? In other words while we have a Tory government will they instinctively cut the budget to a Labour lead police force (the reverse also being possible as well), a criticism being levelled at this government by some Labour councils?

Or suddenly a constituency thats evenly balanced gets lots of visible policing around general election time but the one next door thats a solid seat for one of the parties gets its policing resources stripped to pay for next doors political games.

[Griff9of13]

Or suddenly a constituency thats evenly balanced gets lots of visible policing around general election time but the one next door thats a solid seat for one of the parties gets its policing resources stripped to pay for next doors political games.

Exactly. It can only lead to a politicising of the police force, which is why, for me, the only option was to vote for the independent.

[Griff9of13]

According to this article in the Guardian it is costing an estimated £75m

Good job the country isn't skint isn't it.

[Northern Sol]

Blatant attempt by the Tories to get political control of the police knowing full well that it is their 'law and order' voters who are most likely to turn out.

They want a hang 'em flog 'em, bang anybody up no questions asked police force and expect it to be followed up with American style judges who can bring in their own punishments for the local police czars invented crimes.

They've got previous, but now they want to make it legal.

The thing being that this will only happen if that's the way people vote. This democracy thing is a bit of a sod int'it?

[JohnM]

Could there be a lack of appreciation of how things are at present? It is worth having a look at http://www.westyorks....police.uk/wypa and http://www.homeoffic...-commissioners/

The head of West Yorks Police Authority is a Labour politician, though he has resigned as he is standing for election as the PCC. Under him on the board are there are four other Labour politicians and three Conservative politicians. There are also 8 independent members mainly from the public sector. Allowances and expenses for these members come to about £250,000 a year.

There are also 30 staff, including a Chief Executive and Solicitor. Their salaries seem to be lost in the total WYP salary figure of around , as far as I can tell, a salary bill of about £250 million a year

Police Authority
The key statutory duty for a police authority is to secure the maintenance of an efficient and effective police force in its area and hold the Chief Constable to account for the delivery of policing services.

Police and crime commissioner
The job of the police and crime commissioner is to ensure the policing needs of their communities are met as effectively as possible, bringing communities closer to the police, building confidence in the system and restoring trust. They will do this by:
- 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

It will not be for the PCC to tell the professionals how to do their job - the legislation continues to protect the operational independence of the police by making it clear that the chief constables retain direction and control of the forces officers and staff. The operations of the police will not be politicised; who is arrested and how investigations work will not become political decisions.

Impartiality
PCCs will be required to swear an oath of impartiality when they are elected to office. The swearing of an oath will be an important symbol of impartiality, emphasising both the significance of this new role in local communities and that PCCs are there to serve the people, not a political party or any one section of their electorate.

[WearyRhino]

Lots of swearing required. Is Andrew Mitchel standing?

[JohnM]

God question. He's an absolute disgrace.
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.Resigning like that. He should have stayed on as Chief Whip, especially at a time when the integrity of the police was so demonstrably under pressure - first Orgreave, then Hillsborough and the the Policemens Union politicisation of Mitchell's outburst.

Edited by JohnM, 09 November 2012 - 05:29 PM.

[WearyRhino]

God question. He's an absolute disgrace.
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.Resigning like that. He should have stayed on as Chief Whip, especially at a time when the integrity of the police was so demonstrably under pressure - first Orgreave, then Hillsborough and the the Policemens Union politicisation of Mitchell's outburst.

I know it's Friday, but how many have you had?

[WearyRhino]

Exactly. It can only lead to a politicising of the police force, which is why, for me, the only option was to vote for the independent.

The police force was created by a politician for political reasons - Sir Robert Peel.

Everything is political and politics is everything.

[Hornetto]

Same here.

I haven't heard from any of the candidates, I don't even know their names, so it is impossible to make a sensible decision about which one of them to vote for. Whoever 'wins' these elections, they'll have no real legitimacy IMO.

How much is this whole exercise costing, I wonder?

Well, in the car on the way to work this morning (very scientific), me and the other half reckoned of the 250,000 people in the Rochdale Borough, if half are eligible to vote and the polling cards alone cost 50p each to process, print and post (£62.5k) 50 polling stations cost a grand each to open/staff/set-up/ and posters (£50k), 200 volunteers cost £10 each to feed & water (2k) and the door-drop leaflets cost 50p each for 75,000 households (37.5k) you'd be looking at a conservative baseline cost of around £150,000 for Rochdale alone - more in reality, I imagine.

[Griff9of13]

According to this article in the Guardian it is costing an estimated £75m

Good job the country isn't skint isn't it.

Well, in the car on the way to work this morning (very scientific), me and the other half reckoned of the 250,000 people in the Rochdale Borough, if half are eligible to vote and the polling cards alone cost 50p each to process, print and post (£62.5k) 50 polling stations cost a grand each to open/staff/set-up/ and posters (£50k), 200 volunteers cost £10 each to feed & water (2k) and the door-drop leaflets cost 50p each for 75,000 households (37.5k) you'd be looking at a conservative baseline cost of around £150,000 for Rochdale alone - more in reality, I imagine.

See my previous post above.

[Hornetto]

Polling clerk on Twitter reporting 19 voters in 7 hours in manchester

[John Rhino]

Interestingly if you spoil a ballot paper it is not just put in the bin.
By law it has to be shown to all the candidates. So, this is your one chance to tell them what you think of them and the whole charade.

I saw in the newspaper a few years ago that a politician said the most hurtful thing he had ever received was on a spoilt ballot. It obviously still rankled

[Bedford Roughyed]

Polling station was busier than I expected. At least one other person in there! Plus a few coming through the door.

We have the delight of the British Freedom Party campaigning in our county.

[Wiltshire Rhino]

Wiltshire elects Conservative with only a 16% turnout.

http://m.bbc.co.uk/n...tshire-20341913

[Hornetto]

Littleborough yesterday evening at 8pm, spoke to the polling clerks. They said the turnout was less than a third of a by-election and that they'd had half a dozen people 'in the last hour'. They were a quarter of the way down sheet 3 of the polling log, each sheet taking 50 numbers, so somewhere in the region of 110 voters in 13 hours.