Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Police and crime commissioner not seeking re-election
Kent’s controversial police and crime commissioner Ann Barnes will not be standing for re-election.
Announcing the decision at the weekend, she said she was proud of her achievements in office and thanked the officers and staff she had worked with for their “magnificent work”.
“As election day approaches for the next PCC, I have decided that I will not be a candidate,” she said in a statement on the police and crime commissioner’s website.
She added: “I am content that I have delivered what I said I would and Kent Police is in a very strong and sustainable position for the future.”
Mrs Barnes’ term in office finishes on May 11. She was elected with a majority of 53,889 but her four-year term has been blighted by controversy.
She was investigated for an alleged insurance offence last year. However, the Independent Police Complaints Commission decided not to take any action.
Mrs Barnes also struggled to describe exactly what her job was in a gaffe-filled behind-thescenes Channel 4 documentary in 2014.
She said: “I have now spent over 15 years in police accountability and governance and a lot has changed in that time.
“One thing I can say with absolute confidence though is that the people of Kent now get a better service, victims and witnesses are now at the heart of policing in Kent, and the public has never been better engaged in policing.
“That is not just my view. It is the finding of the independent policing inspectorate, HMIC, who have graded Kent Police as the only ‘outstanding’ force in the country in this regard.”
She continued: “I have also raised the profile of police and crime commissioners – not always in the way that I intended, it must be said.”