This November you have the chance to directly elect the Police & Crime Commissioner for the Thames Valley. The Conservative candidate is Anthony Stansfeld.
Police Commissioner is a new job introduced by the Government to bring direct democratic accountability to England’s policing.
The Commissioner will be a local figure with a powerful mandate directly from the public, and will actively drive the fight against crime and anti social behaviour in the Thames Valley police force area.
He or she will be a Police and Crime Commissioner. This means a much broader and more direct remit: including community safety, the prevention of crime, tackling drugs, and many other things.
The Commissioner will to set the priorities for the police in Thames Valley, and will set the annual budget and Council Tax Precept. He or she will also have powers to hire or fire the Chief Constable.
This will carry the huge responsibility of listening to local people and translating their concerns into action, in effect making the police priorities the people's priorities.
The Commissioner will need to exercise proper governance and oversight of policing and develop a good working relationship with the Command Team and with local police chiefs across Thames Valley.
Anthony is confident that all this can be done in a cost effective way which will produce substantial savings on the current budget and will improve performance in all parts of the area.