Police and Crime Commissioner Elections

Vote 2012

Police and Crime Commissioner Elections 2012

Overview

  • The first ever elections for Police and Crime Commissioners will be held on 15 November 2012.
  • Each of the 41 police force areas in England and Wales, outside of London, will directly-elect a Commissioner.
  • Commissioners are at the heart of the Government's programme of decentralisation, where power is returned to people and communities.
  • Instead of bureaucratic, Whitehall-led control of the police we will see democratic accountability with the public having a real say over how their area is policed.

 

What will Police and Crime Commissioners do?

  • Commissioners will be local figures with powerful mandates from the public to drive the fight against crime and anti-social behaviour.
  • Commissioners will decide policing strategy and the force budget. They will set the local council tax precept and appoint - and if necessary dismiss - the chief constable. And all of this will be done on behalf of the public who elect them.
  • Police and Crime Commissioners will replace the existing police authorities and have a much larger role.
  • As their title - Police and Crime Commissioners - suggests they will have a broad remit to ensure community safety, with their own budgets to prevent crime and tackle drugs.
  • Working with local authorities, community safety partnerships and local criminal justice boards, Commissioners will help bring a strategic coherence to the actions of these organisations across each police force.
  • The Commissioners will also have responsibility for strategic policing - they will have to address national issues as well as local concerns.

 

A single and accountable individual

  • Commissioners will be a single elected individual who will take executive decisions, supported by a highly qualified team.
  • The principle of one accountable individual, directly responsible for the totality of police force activity is central to the Government's vision of the new policing landscape.
  • The buck will stop with commissioners, and the public will cast judgement at the ballot box, voting out commissioners who don't cut crime or address local concerns.
  • But Police and Crime Commissioners won't have day-to-day control over operational policing - they won't be able to tell a sworn officer of the crown who to arrest.