Battling it out for new police commissioner role

The first ever elections for Police and Crime Commissioners will be held on November 15, when each of the 41 police force areas in England and Wales, outside of London, will directly elect a commissioner.

This role will replace Warwickshire’s Police Authority, and will pay £65,000 annually to the elected candidate.

Commissioners will have powers to hire and fire chief constables, set police force budgets and commission some criminal justice services.

Fraser Pithie, has been selected as the Conservative Police and Crime Commissioner candidate, and James Plaskitt, who was MP for Warwick and Leamington from 1997 to 2010, has been endorsed by Labour party members as a candidate for the role.

Mr Pithie believes he has the experience in policing, the knowledge of Warwickshire and the know-how in business to take on this role.

The retired Severn Trent director who lives in Kenilworth, has been a police authority chairman in 1990s, was also a special constable and is an active Neighbourhood Watch member.

He said: “This new role will improve policing because people will recognise the commissioner and know it is he/she they need to go to if they wish to complain about the police.

“Last year Warwickshire Police had to undergo a massive transformational change in the way it was organised, it’s a fact known in business that performance always suffers in the short-term when undertaking such a significant change.

“What is important is that last year’s change was the right one for the people of Warwickshire and its police service.

“I don’t believe we need more officers, I believe we need to squeeze everything out of what we’ve already got.”

However Mr Plaskitt says that in his first 100 days in the post, he would start recruiting additional police officers, cut administration costs, appoint local crime reduction champions and set a zero tolerance approach to anti-social behaviour.

He added: “We urgently need more officers. I can cut administration costs straight away. I will run a commissioner’s office for less than the outgoing authority, so that means fewer politicians and more police officers.

“With fewer police on the beat, it gets harder to tackle anti-social behaviour.

“But it’s one of the biggest concerns people have, and if it’s not dealt with, it becomes the start of a sliding scale of grief. So I will ensure we have a zero-tolerance approach to anti-social behaviour. It’s the key to building safer and more confident communities.”