Commissioner elections on May 2
ELECTIONS for Police and Crime Commissioners take place on May 2.
Voters in Wales’s four policing areas, Dyfed Powys, Gwent, North Wales, and South Wales, will elect a Commissioner.
Commissioners oversee the police and supposedly ensure community needs are met as effectively as possible.
The Commissioner has four main duties, which are to:
• Set out the priorities for policing in DyfedPowys
• Decide the budget for Dyfed-Powys Police
• Hold the Chief Constable to account and to
• Listen and respond to the public’s views on policing
The election process starts with candidates putting themselves forward for the role.
After polls close, ballots are counted and verified, and the candidate with the most votes wins.
Once elected, the incoming PCC will be officially named and sworn in, ready to take office and serve a fouryear term shaping policing priorities.
After the election, they will begin forming, consulting and implementing their Police and Crime Plan.
In Dyfed Powys, the election candidates are:
• Justin Griffiths Liberal Democrat
• Ian Harrison Conservative
• Dafydd Llywelyn Plaid Cymru
• Phillippa Thompson - Labour
Dafydd Llywelyn was elected Police and Crime Commissioner for Dyfed Powys in May 2016.
Because of the Covid pandemic, his term was extended. He was reelected for a shorter term in 2021, with this year’s election returning to the previous four-year cycle.
However, unless there is a dramatic upswing in public interest, turnout for the elections will likely be low.
In Dyfed-Powys, 2021’s turnout was 50.6%, among the highest in England and Wales. That figure, which represented a small increase on 2016’s turnout, was buoyed by the fact that it took place on the same day as elections to the Welsh Parliament.
No other elections are scheduled for May 2. So far, voter engagement is virtually zero.
When the public first voted for Police and Crime Commissioners in 2012, turnout in Wales was below 15%.
A repetition of that turnout level would make a mockery of the role’s legitimacy and the election process.
While police forces certainly need independent and accountable oversight, there are concerns that the role is a political dead end, jobs for the good old boys, and ultimately little more than window dressing.
It is an understatement to describe the incumbent Commissioners of South Wales Police and Gwent Police as uninspiring.
Failed Labour politicians Jeff Cuthbert and Alun Michaels have “gone native.”
Mr Michaels, in particular, appears to see his role as unquestioningly backing South Wales Police’s institutional interests instead of representing the public and holding officers to account. Meanwhile, Mr Cuthbert has been more-or-less silent on controversies involving some officers’ conduct in the force he is supposed to scrutinise.
That criticism cannot be laid at Dafydd Llywelyn’s door. Even though Mr Llywelyn, like other Commissioners, has no operational role, he has actively pursued issues on the public’s behalf, including the inquiry into murders in the tiny village of Llangolman dating back to the 1970s.