VOTE 2021: PCC CANDIDATES REVEAL PLANS

On Thursday, May 6, voters will choose the next Police and Crime Commissioner for the Thames Valley. JESS WARREN meets the three main candidates

Matthew Barber

POLICE visibility in the community is the main priority for the Conservative Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) candidate.

Matthew Barber, who was the deputy PCC for Thames Valley, said his main concern is creating the capacity to deal with neighbourhood crime more effectively.

Although this will not mean the return of a police station in Wokingham town centre, he said.

Instead, he is considering more “response bases” to ensure officers are “based in the right place” to respond to community call-outs.

Reflecting on recent national issues surrounding policing and protests, Mr Barber said his priority is to get the “little things” right, as that helps until public trust as much as “the big things”, such as policing protests.

“For me it comes down to local neighbourhood policing,” he said. “If the victim doesn’t feel the police have responded adequately, that damages the public confidence in policing.”

Other priorities include “serious organised crime”, which includes burglary and drug dealing,” Mr Barber said.

Off the streets, he wants to focus on cybercrime and fraud.

“It's not always at the top of the list of concerns that people have when they think about policing,” he said. “But we've all spent a lot online this year. And that also makes us more vulnerable. You are much more likely to be a victim of cybercrime of some kind than physical.”

Mr Barber said improving criminal justice is also a priority for him.

“I think there’s a huge amount of work to do there,” he said. “And part of this is about reducing reoffending, to prevent more people becoming victims of crime in the future.”

He said while courts have resumed, there is a need to improve on the turnaround time from charges being made to court appearances.

“We need to vastly improve on where we were a year ago,” he added. “Going back to precovid levels would not be adequate.”

This can be sped-up, he said, with new methods in policing. “There's a new piece of kit that is being trialled at the moment, that allows police to download mobile phones at the scene.

“That sounds like a really small thing but it speeds up prosecutions, and it means witnesses are more likely to cooperate with the police.”

He said another trial, currently running in Buckinghamshire to reduce prosecution wait times for domestic abuse cases, is something he would like to roll-out, if the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is willing.

And Mr Barber’s final priority is to more effectively police illegal encampments, as police powers increase in this area nationally.

“There are good and bad elements in every community, static and traveling, and the police need to be able to deal fairly,” he said. “It’s the action of the illegal encampment, it’s absolutely not about persecuting a particular community.

“But doesn't mean someone can turn up on a school playing field just before a bank holiday weekend when the school fete is going to happen, and cause damage.”

Outside of his key priorities, Mr Barber said he wants to open up bigger discussions surrounding young people, knife crime, extortion, grooming and drugs problems.

“But I think there's also a lot of other work around diversion,” he said.

“Because sadly these offenders are often known to local authorities, they’re the children excluded from school.

“We need to have a much better system that wraps around those young people.”

Part of this, he said, is bringing independent mentors in, to support young people in custody.

Laetisia Carter

THE LABOUR candidate for Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) in the Thames Valley, said her background in public sector work gives her an advantage over “career politicians”.

Laetisia Carter, said her main priority in policing is to tackle violence against women and girls — and it has been for years.

“Where there is silence,

I will be vocal,” she told Wokingham.Today.

Having worked in this area for 16 years, Mrs Carter said the issue is close to her heart.

She said she was “absolutely furious” at the violence against women during the week between International Women’s Day and Mother’s

Day, including the response to Sarah Everard’s death.

“There was absolute silence from the PCC,” she said.

“Nothing from Matthew Barber, nothing from Anthony Stansfield.

“I wrote to them, and said publicly, where is your reassurance for half of your population, where is your reassurance for women living in Thames Valley that police are there to protect us — and not as perpetrators. I'm yet to have a reply.

“Where we're different is that I will speak up for what I feel is right.”

Mrs Carter said it is important for her to rebuild public trust in the police, and this begins with opposing the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill.

“It’s pushing police into a role I don’t think even police officers are comfortable with,” she said. “Shutting down protests that are too noisy — it's completely undemocratic. The police officers should never be foot soldiers.

“It’s not their role, policing is by consent.”

She said her inbox is full of Thames Valley residents that feel “threatened” by the “authoritarian” move, and said electing a Conservative PCC means they are unlikely to challenge the Government on decisions such as these.

Her other priorities include “visible and accessible policing”, which could see the introduction of “weekly listening events” where residents can have their concerns heard.

“This role really is the voice of the people of Wokingham, the people of Thames Valley,” she said. “It’s the opportunity to hold the police to account, which is so important.

“No PCC should get lost in police bureaucracy — you’re there to question, and listen to where things aren’t working, or where there are frustrations.”

While this may not see a return of a police desk in Wokingham, Mrs Carter said she would look at making police more accessible, especially with response times to live incidents.

Her other priorities include protecting young people, with a focus on preventative work to “raise the profile of the issue”.

She said the rise in knife crime, youth exploitation and county lines show a need to protect vulnerable young people. And she proposed this could be done with more partnership working.

This would expand on existing projects, and involve councils.

“We have an absolute responsibility to make sure young vulnerable people aren’t being drawn to this type of crime and become victims of this type of crime,” she added.

Mrs Carter said she also wants to improve the experience of victims of crime, having previously created a standard operating procedure for victims.

She said there is more that can be done to support residents, particular when it comes to the criminal justice system.

Her final priority is to focus on fraud and cyber crime, which has risen recently.

“We need more information out there to protect vulnerable people,” she said.

John Howson

THE LIBERAL Democrat candidate for Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) said one of his key aims is to “make sure the rest of the criminal justice system pulls their weight”.

John Howson, who is standing in the Thursday, May 6 election, said the Thames Valley is worse than the national record for the time taken to solve crimes and progress them on to court.

“People are just not getting to court and justice is not being served,” he said. “If you're a witness in a case, it’s disturbing having it hanging over you.

“We went into the pandemic with a bad record, we must not come out with a worse one.”

Commonly called for in Wokingham, Mr Howson said he “would love to see” a police station in the town centre, but said he “doesn’t think it will happen”.

Instead, he placed an importance on establishing a local point of contact.

“If you were walking on the street, and found that somebody had dropped their credit cards and £50, what would you do with it?” he said.

“The first thing I want to do is to talk to local authorities about libraries, centres, where those sorts of things can be handed in by responsible members of the public.”

He said borough libraries could also provide a useful point of contact for residents to use the internet and contact the police over an issue.”

This is part of his vision to create a “police service” instead of a “police force”.

“Our fundamental role is policing by consent,” Mr Howson said. “And our officers recognise they are serving the public.

“You have to, as the police, tread a very delicate line of enforcing the law. But you should start from a police service, not a police force. The challenge for the PCC is, how do you do that in those circumstances — and we're trying to regain the trust of the people who are protesting.”

He said other priorities surrounded reducing the number of young people in the criminal justice system. He added: “We know that most people start a life of crime when they’re young, and the decimation of youth services and transforming secondary schools into academy chains with lots of different headquarters has made it much more difficult to provide new services for vulnerable children.

“We need the sorts of services that keep those vulnerable people out of the life of crime and ensure they become useful responsible citizens. The role of the PCC is to stand between the operational role of the chief constable, and the strategic role of the government, to ask ‘what are you doing to ensure the number of people coming into the criminal justice system is reduced’?”

Mr Howson said he specialises in crime and education. As a former teacher, he has experience of violence in schools, and was stabbed while on duty at school in Tottenham.

He said he was concerned about the home secretary’s recent announcement to move fire and rescue services into regional hubs.

“That would mean a single fire and rescue service for the whole of the Thames Valley,” he said.

“If I was PCC, I would want to do everything possible to ensure that there is local involvement.”

Another of Mr Howson’s concerns is the rise in fraud, which he said “not enough resources are spent on”.

“It's part of 21st century policing,” he said. “If crime is changing then policing has to change as well. If it is a national internet scam. We have to find a way policing that keeps the public safe from those.”

He also wants to focus on knife crime, as it rose during the pandemic.