Andrew wants police back on the streets

Andrew Moss is standing as an independent candidate because he feels there is no place for party politics in policing.

In fact he blames politics for ‘targets and cuts’ that he says lie behind many of the problems that face today’s force.

He said: “Party politics tends to be about the short term, headline-grabbing initiatives. Certainly under the previous administration many of the targets were meaningless.”

Among these are “box-ticking” for easy arrests following playground fights that improved statistics but left young people with unnecessary criminal records.

A former custody sergeant and traffic officer who started his career on the beat in Warwick, and retired after 30 years’ service in January, he feels the reorganisation that followed the Coalition’s cuts means officers have lost the contact that brings in valuable intelligence.

Admitting he has not yet seen the budget, he believes the public could be persuaded to pay more in council tax for this.

He said: “What we’ve lost is interaction with the public other than at times of conflict and distress. I still can’t believe we don’t have time to get out of our cars and talk to people.”

Following November elections, among the commissioner’s first tasks will be appointing a new chief constable, but the former sergeant says he would not be out of his depth.

He said: “I understand what it’s like to be a victim of crime because I’ve been there. When someone’s crying their eyes out because they’ve been burgled or suffered domestic abuse, I was there, I’ve dealt with them, I supported them. I’m not a theorist, I’ve actually done it.

“I’m not unaware of the requirement to provide a national policing strategy, and we have counter-terrorism, which is very high profile. Everyone’s going to be on a learning curve, it’s just where you start.”