Anthony Stansfeld has for the past year Chaired the performance Committee of the Police Authority, which sets targets for the police, and the results have been impressive. In Slough the detection rate has nearly doubled, and household burglaries have reduced considerably. In Reading household burglaries are running at over 30% less and detection rates again have about doubled. This is mirrored in most other Thames Police areas, with a drop of 17% in Bracknell Forest the last year.
Anthony Stansfeld believes that high detection rates for household burglary lead to immediate reductions in crime rates, not only for household burglary but in other areas as well. He says that there is still room for improvement and this is being addressed.
Graham Smith, Thames Valley Police Federation chairman, said the role must not be politicised. he said: “What I cannot support and would never support is political interference with the office of Chief Constable.” He added: “It’s important the public engage with it because the decisions this person will make in relation to how much is spent with policing the strategic direction of the force is massively important.”
In May, Thames Valley Police Chief Constable Sara Thornton expressed concerns the public was not interested enough to vote.
We are sure that in Bracknell Forest that people care enough anout crime to vote on this important issue.
How is a Police & Crime Commissioner elected?
If a candidate gets more than half of all the first choice votes, they will be declared the winner and elected.
If no candidate gets more than half of the first choice votes, the two candidates with the most first choices go into a second round and all other candidates are eliminated.
The eliminated candidates’ ballot papers are reviewed and any second choice votes for the top two candidates are added to their scores. The candidate with the highest number of combined first and second choice votes is the winner.
Further Information
On 15 November 2012, for the first time ever, the public across England and Wales will elect police and crime commissioners who will be accountable for how crime is tackled in their police force area.
More at: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/police/police-crime-commissioners/