Police Commissioners

Joan It seems to have been the 51st state for quite a long time now. Our candidates have completely interchangeable manifestos and they all sound at best ill informed and at worst false.

How utterly ridiculous, voting for a Police Commissioner! What IS happening to the UK. It is still the UK, isn't it? Or has it become a part of the USA.

Bah humbug!

Our postal votes are still on the table. I am veering towards not voting and writing to MP to tell him why. They are obviously struggling to get the right kind of applicant/candidate in many areas.

A class traitor is someone who sells out his core values....in this case someone born working class who once fought for the rights of the workers. Over the years this person not only became part of the establishment but began to see the workers as a body to be contained rather than supported. Now he's amongst the higher echelons of unelected parasites.

I am in Surrey too! When I looked them all up on the website indicated on the leaflet that came with the polling info. I discovered I know one of the candidates as he is the partner of a former colleague of mine.

What would have been really useful is a clear bullet pointed list of what exactly a police commissioner will have jurisdiction over. I am really not clear about the powers!

Each candidate is promising to keep Surrey safe and crime free..but other than that obvious statement it does seem to be about determining budgets.. more bobbies on the beat, less bureaucracy etc etc.. so far no candidate has said s/he is bringing in the stocks or sending criminals to a holiday camp. Seems to be very party political.. the independent guy is an ex-commisioner of police... but cannot find a record of what he did when in post!

I will go to the poling station even if it is just to spoil my paper !!

I'm in Surrey too and also know nothing about any of them.

I do believe in voting and give my children hell, particularly the girls, when they don't go and vote but I just don't get this one at all.

I guess I will have to make some effort to find out this week.

I looked at the Thames Valley bunch online. Big sigh. I will probably vote, and vote for the labour candidate as he seems to be the only one that might get an interview if the job was advertised. Done a lot of shortlisting of job applicants in my time. But i do not agree with having political appointment. Hum.
My MIL and I looked at the West Midlands bunch, they had slightly more relevant backgrounds.
I am going to predict a 10% or less turnout for this silly idea. Anyone advance on 10% anyone?

It's going to happen so I feel it is important to try and find out about the candidates and place my vote. I have made an effort to listen to them speaking on local radio and to look at their websites etc. The political candidates in my area are predicting a low turnout but the independent candidate says there is a lot of interest and people really do seem to care when he's been out canvassing so he's optimistic for and urging a 50% turnout. Only time will tell.

I don't agree that the populace at large need to select someone they know little about, to fill a position nobody knows anything about, in a highly specialized profession. Leave it to the pros, I say...

So yes, I am apathetic regarding this election, and will not bother to put in an appearance at the Polling Station.

You can still vote but write "None of the above" across the paper.
Or you could write "I do not want another tier of bureaucracy in the police force"
"I do not want an elected dictator"? FlicketyB
Then they cannot accuse us of voter apathy.

I'm not voting either. I might if there was a 'no police commissioner ' option!

I have decided, for the first time ever not to vote and I am going to email my MP to let them know and why.

I think that replacing the Police Authority with one elected individual is like banishing the House of Commons and having us all vote just for the Prime Minster or getting rid of all the Councillors and just voting for one man to run each local authority. I want my local police force to be supervised by a board of individuals who represent the diversity of the population and the diversity of the environment in the region. Whether these people are chosen by he elected members of my local council or voted for in an election I do not mind but I will not use my democratic right to vote to elect a dictator, which is what the Police Commissioner will be.

In a general election and a Euro election, parties are allowed to send out a leaflet free of charge. This election gives inexperienced candidates the possibility of taking on the running of the police service. We should be given the opportunity to read their manifestos and CVs. But, especially for an independent candidate, the cost of mailing all the voters in a county would be prohibitive. Parties have networks of leaflet distributors and the resources to find the £5000 deposit. The dice are certainly loaded against independent candidates who might well be better suited to the job than party hacks.

vampirequeen we must live in the same area as those sounds like my chose of candidates. I came to the same conclusion and will be voting for the ex police officer. I don't want a PCC but feel I should vote

Me, too, anno. I don't fancy any of our candidates, or even the idea of having a PCC, but felt I should vote.

I sent my postal vote back today. I thought about not voting but it just went against the grain, so I voted for the one I know and who probably won't be elected!

there is another thread on this, with a link to the website where you can look at your candidates.
I wonder just how low the "turnout" will be...

I agree with the above, we too have had voting cards, and a booklet through the door, but have no idea who to vote for. I would prefer an acting police officer, but don't know who he is. What a terrible waste of money this is all going to be. I did hear a figure quoted, can't remember what it was, but was appalled that so little information had been given to the most important people at so much expense.

Whatever is a 'class traitor'?

We did have a booklet through the door - Police and Crime Commissioner Elections - jusst telling you how to vote, not who the candidates are. To find out, you have to visit the website or phone an 0800 number to order printed information. Bearing in mind the level of apathy about this whole 'election', I can't see that many people will bother to do either!

No I only know that my choices include a class traitor, a failed Lib Dem councillor and an ex police officer. Working on the theory that at least the ex police officer will have some understanding of the difficulties faced by and duties required of the police I'll vote for him.