The World We Live In – West Yorkshire Police election

Police and Crime Commissioner Hustings at Leeds Met

On November 15th the nation (or, it looks like, a rather small percentage of it) will head the polls to elect the Police and Crime Commissioner for their region. Leeds Met student union recently held a Hustings with the four candidates for the West Yorkshire area, and I went along.

If you’re not sure what the Police and Crime Commissioner’s role is, don’t worry, apparently you’re not alone; when the moderator asked the audience who didn’t understand the role, the Tory candidate Geraldine Carter raised her hand. I think (and certainly hope) she was joking. The role will, broadly, consist of setting the police’s priorities, targets and budgets and hiring and firing the chief constable. It’s debatable whether this should really be a democratically elected role, especially with political parties involved; the candidates will have to swear be political neutral, anyway, when they take on the role. But the government have decided that this should be an elected role…so there’s not really much that can be done about that now!

Alongside Geraldine, a councillor in Calderdale, the other candidates are Lib Dem Andrew Marchington, who has served on the West Yorkshire Police Authority and chaired the Local Policing committee, Labour candidate Mark Burns-Williamson, who has been chair of the West Yorkshire Police Authority since 2003 and an independent candidate, Cedric Christie, a former detective inspector (which is clearly very relevant experience, although his claim that he’s “done the job you’re asking me to do” might be a bit of an exaggeration; being a policeman is a little different to running a police force).

The issue of how we can be assured the candidates will not play party politics with the role, and the broader question of why we are electing this role at all, were both posed by the audience (Geraldine was surprisingly defensive, asking “what is he suggesting about me?”, although the questioner hadn’t directly addressed the question to her); there was this weird juxtaposition between what I believe were true promises of political neutrality (with Mark, for example, citing his non-partisan record servicing as chair of the police authority), and the clear political divide between the candidates when discussing the issue of cuts.

Both Geraldine and Cedric took the view of “the cuts are here and we will just have to live with them”; with Geraldine perhaps slightly stronger on the idea that the cuts are “necessary”. Andrew got rather flustered by the whole issue; avoiding the question of whether he supporter the cuts pretty much at all costs, although he did say he would lobby for more funds if he was elected. Mark was the only candidate to outright oppose the cuts; saying he supported HMIC’s recommended 12% cuts instead.

I asked if the candidates had any specific strategies for tackling violence against women. Rather sadly, as she is the only female candidate, Geraldine’s initial response was that “violent crime towards anyone is bad”; clearly true, but a concerning dismissal of the specific nature of violence against women. Mark promised a “tough stance against domestic violence”, with greater powers to arrest on site, and more support for victims to come forward. He also discussed how he had as chair of the police authority implemented a scheme for police having cameras in their helmets to record evidence. Cedric broadly agreed with Mark’s stance, and talked about specific instances that he had witnessed as an officer. Andrew’s answer focused on tackling a culture which excuses violence towards women, and rehabilitation; good answers although perhaps not as specific and practical as Mark’s.

On the issue of trust in the police, Geraldine said there was a need for a more personal relationship with the officers; Andrew meanwhile discussed the police effectively communicating what they’re doing, while Cedric talked about tackling bad behaviour in the force. It is worth noting, however, as Mark pointed out, that over the past five years confidence in the police has increased 15%, which makes sense when you considered that crime has fallen. This was mirrored when the audience was asked if they trusted their local police; it was about 70% to 30% who said they did.

The issues covered in this debate (other questions ranged from racism in the police force to drugs policies to no go areas in Leeds, like Hyde Park at night) really highlighted just how important having the right person in this role is, because tackling crime is, evidently, such an important issue for all of us, and I hope that you, if you’re registered to vote in West Yorkshire, will be heading to the polling booth to cast your vote on the 15th November.

Photo Sources:
1. Author’s own.
2. http://webarchive.nationalarch…

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