Time to cast our votes for our next police and crime commissioner
Office holder Alison Hernandez is being challenged by opponents old and new. EDWARD OLDFIELD reports
CANDIDATES from Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party are lining up to challenge Conservative Alison Hernandez, who is seeking re-election as police and crime commissioner (PCC) for Devon and Cornwall.
The voting takes place across the two counties on Thursday, May 6, alongside elections for Cornwall and Devon councils, a third of the seats in Exeter and Plymouth, local council by-elections, parish and town councils and neighbourhood plan referendums.
The Labour candidate for PCC is Gareth Derrick, a former Royal Navy commodore, who is a Plymouth city councillor and was parliamentary candidate in South East Cornwall in 2017 and 2019. He came a close second to Ms Hernandez at the last PCC election in 2014.
The Liberal Democrat candidate is Brian Blake, a former police officer who served with the Devon and Cornwall force for more than 30 years and stood at the first PCC election in 2012.
The Green Party candidate is Stuart Jackson, who worked as a training officer with the force until 2018. He says he decided to stand in the light of events around the death in March of Sarah Everard, which triggered public debate about violence against women and girls.
Conservative Ms Hernandez narrowly beat Mr Derrick last time round in 2016 to become the commissioner for Devon, Cornwall, and the Isles of Scilly. She polled 91,036 votes, with her Labour rival on 87,242 after the count went to a second round.
Police and crime commissioners are elected by the public to ensure the policing needs of communities are met and to oversee how crime is tackled. They produce a police and crime plan to set force priorities, but have no role in operational policing.
The election for a commissioner for each of the 41 police forces in England and Wales, who normally serve a four-year term, was due to take place in May, 2020, but was postponed due to the pandemic. The annual salary for the Devon and Cornwall PCC was set in 2018 at £86,700 and was due to be reviewed.
What does a police and crime commissioner do?
Elected police and crime commissioners replaced police authorities, with the first taking office in November 2012.
The Government’s Choose My PCC website, which has information about the election, says: “Police and crime commissioners are elected to hold your police force to account for delivering the kind of policing you want to see. Their aim is to cut crime and to ensure your police force is effective.”
It says PCCs “bring a public voice to policing” by engaging with the public and victims of crime to help set police and crime plans; ensuring the police force budget is spent where it matters most; appointing, and where necessary dismissing, the chief constable.
The website adds: “PCCs also work with your council and other organisations to promote and enable joined up working on community safety and criminal justice. The PCC does not ‘run’ the police force. Chief constables continue to be responsible for the day-to-day operations of the police, but they are accountable to the public via the police and crime commissioner.
“PCCs ensure an effective policing contribution alongside other partners to national arrangements to protect the public from other crossboundary threats.
“PCCs are required to swear an oath of impartiality when they are elected to office. The oath is designed so that PCCs can set out publicly their commitment to tackling their new role with integrity. It reflects the commitment police officers make to serve every member of the public impartially and makes clear that they are there to serve the people, not a political party or any one section of their electorate.”
How does the voting system work?
Where there are two candidates, the winner is chosen by ‘first past the post’ – the one with the most votes. Where there are more than twp, the system used is called the supplementary vote. Voters mark their preferred candidate and can also indicate a second choice in a second column on the ballot paper.
If a candidate wins more than 50% of the first-choice votes, they are elected. If no single candidate passes that point, all but the top two candidates are eliminated.
The top two names then go into a second round, adding up their ‘second choice’ votes from the other other candidates’ ballot papers. The totals of first and second choices are added together, and the candidate with the highest number is declared elected.