Assistant police commissioner accused of being ‘online troll’
THE West Midlands Assistant Police and Crime Commissioner (APCC) Tom McNeil, has been accused of online trolling by a former candidate for the job.
Jay Singh Sohal made the complaint to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) alleging the Labour APCC engages in “consistent and targeted toxic behaviour.” Mr McNeil has denied the allegation and said it was his job to point out the omission of facts.
It comes as Conservative MPs across the region expressed anger at the office’s failure to tackle knife crime.
Mr Singh-Sohal, who once stood as the Conservative candidate for the APCC role, said in a letter to West Midland Police and Crime Commission (PCC) Simon Foster, that Mr McNeil has been regularly commenting on his social media accounts since 2019.
In one example, Mr McNeil suggests Mr Singh-Sohal had “zero integrity and not fit for public office”.
Mr Singh Sohal said he first complained about Mr McNeil in 2021. He claimed the alleged online harassment threatens to bring the “roles and responsibilities of the office and office holders into serious question”.
“That it now steps into the realms of targeted toxic digital behaviour is a concern for me and others and should be a concern for you too.”
Mr McNeil said: “Mr Singh-Sohal is well aware that there have been sweeping government cuts over the last ten years to policing, the CPS, probation, courts, youth services, addiction treatment, children’s centres, school budgets and domestic abuse support, alongside underfunded mental health services.
“It is my job to point out his total omission of these facts, despite being reminded of them repeatedly,” he added.
A spokesman for the Independent Office for Police Conduct said: “We can confirm that we have received a complaint in relation to this matter.
“However, as complaints against an assistant police and crime commissioner do not fall under the remit of the police complaints system overseen by us, it was outside of our jurisdiction. The complainant has been advised accordingly.”
The outcome of the complaint will be decided by the PCC, according to the police and crime panel website. The complaint comes after a Parliament debate on knife crime. Conservative MPs claimed the West Midlands, which has the highest rate of knife crime in the country with 152 offences per 100,000 population, was being let down by its Labour PCC Mr Foster.
They claimed Mr Foster’s performance as PCC had been so poor that it was time to scrap the PCC role altogether and give the powers to Conservative West Midlands mayor Andy Street.
The Office for the Police and Crime Commissioner was approached for comment.