‘We’re here to police the streets, not the tweets’
THE independent candidate for the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) elections, said he has a “straightforward” message – to get police back on the streets.
Alan Robinson, who grew up in Witney, retired from the police force December 2018 after 25 years.
He said: “I put my heart and soul into policing. I am so passionate about it that I have written a book called Policeless, in which I evidence my frustrations with the dysfunctional police service it went from serving the public to serving politicians, which has ultimately led to not only a broken police service but broken officers and staff.”
Mr Robinson said he couldn't “sit back” in his retirement, and is now campaigning to be elected next month.
He is pushing for “more bobbies on the beat”, as part of his pledge for an independent PCC, “free from political interference”.
He wants to improve police visibility, allowing officers to “use their common sense and discretion, instead of chasing meaningless targets”.
This, he said, can be done by better using existing resources.
Mr Robinson is calling for a clearer line over where police responsibility begins and ends, in order to safeguard resources.
He would also like officers to push back, and encourage the public to take more personal responsibility for some issues.
“The scale of triviality is frustrating,” he said. “We need a common sense approach, and to become more selective in the jobs we go to. We’ve mollycoddled people, and we need to kick back on this.”
This could also include online hate crime, Mr Robinson said.
“We’re here to police the streets, not the tweets,” he said. “We’re here for hurt bodies not hurt feelings.”
He also wants to realign officers to neighbourhood teams, to resolve problems before they become issues.
Mr Robinson said he wants to boost community engagement with the force, to raise the morale of officers and police staff.
This, he said, will lead to a more effective and efficient service — and allow the police to “reclaim their identity”.
He added: "When I was growing up, there was a reassuring police presence, with a bobby on the beat.
“We need to use more common sense and discretion.
“If two lads were having a fight on a Friday night, when I joined the police force in 1993 I could step between them and say ‘lads either shake hands now or go your separate ways, I don't want to see you together again for the rest of the evening’, and it worked.
“And they respected me for having that judgment. Policing is by consent, and by me arresting the pair of them for assault, just to bump crime figures and make senior officers and politicians look good — it’s taking away policing by consent.
“We’re losing the respect of the people we're supposed to be serving.”
He said police need to rebuild public trust, by being fair, impartial, diligent and acting with integrity.
“We’ve got to go back to our core principles,” he said. “We’re here to fight crime and protect the people in our communities – we’ve got to reclaim their trust.”
He added: “Look after the officers and they'll look after our communities. I am the only candidate who mentions officers and staff welfare in their manifesto.”