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You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/oct/25/no-vote-for-police-commissioners
The article has changed 6 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| A no vote for police commissioners | A no vote for police commissioners |
| (about 1 month later) | |
| We all want and expect the police force to be above suspicion and corruption. They are the people we were taught we could always trust. But although there may still be many decent police officers around, recently we have heard too much about corruption, the organised lying after Hillsborough, and now Orgreave, the officers who rape young women in police stations, the unnecessary brutality. We no longer know which of our police officers we can trust. Most ordinary people have little experience of the police and policing, and cannot tell which officers are the good ones and which the bad. | We all want and expect the police force to be above suspicion and corruption. They are the people we were taught we could always trust. But although there may still be many decent police officers around, recently we have heard too much about corruption, the organised lying after Hillsborough, and now Orgreave, the officers who rape young women in police stations, the unnecessary brutality. We no longer know which of our police officers we can trust. Most ordinary people have little experience of the police and policing, and cannot tell which officers are the good ones and which the bad. |
| We are now being asked to vote for suitable police commissioners (Comment, 23 October). Voting cards have arrived, without mention of the names of the candidates, only instructions to go and look at a website, which some people may not be able to do. I could look at the site, but as I can no longer trust even the most glowing paragraphs about any candidate – quite apart from not having the faintest idea what qualities a police commissioner will really need – I will be taking the advice not to vote. Believe me, this is not because I do not care. Vivien Gabriel Bovingdon, Hertfordshire | We are now being asked to vote for suitable police commissioners (Comment, 23 October). Voting cards have arrived, without mention of the names of the candidates, only instructions to go and look at a website, which some people may not be able to do. I could look at the site, but as I can no longer trust even the most glowing paragraphs about any candidate – quite apart from not having the faintest idea what qualities a police commissioner will really need – I will be taking the advice not to vote. Believe me, this is not because I do not care. Vivien Gabriel Bovingdon, Hertfordshire |
| • A week ago I received my poll card for the election, but after over four decades of considering voting as my civic duty I find I do not even know who the candidates are to make my decision about. What are their political affiliations; who are their financial backers; and, above all else, what are they promising will be their policies? The only public advice so far comes from a retired Met chief – the area where the mayor already has the relevant powers but is at least subject to public scrutiny – which was not to vote! | • A week ago I received my poll card for the election, but after over four decades of considering voting as my civic duty I find I do not even know who the candidates are to make my decision about. What are their political affiliations; who are their financial backers; and, above all else, what are they promising will be their policies? The only public advice so far comes from a retired Met chief – the area where the mayor already has the relevant powers but is at least subject to public scrutiny – which was not to vote! |
| These are powerful and well-paid posts. Their influence will extend down from the chief constable to the layer of senior officers who have hopes of succeeding to the top rung and then trickle down through the ranks to affect all citizens. I would like to hear the opinions of my local police on the candidates: not just from the chiefs but most importantly the "plebs" who daily get their hands dirty and risk life and limb. We cannot afford to have some extremist elected on a tiny vote. Mike Cobb Stanford-le-Hope, Essex | These are powerful and well-paid posts. Their influence will extend down from the chief constable to the layer of senior officers who have hopes of succeeding to the top rung and then trickle down through the ranks to affect all citizens. I would like to hear the opinions of my local police on the candidates: not just from the chiefs but most importantly the "plebs" who daily get their hands dirty and risk life and limb. We cannot afford to have some extremist elected on a tiny vote. Mike Cobb Stanford-le-Hope, Essex |
| • The candidates for the North Yorkshire police and crime commissioner posts have been announced. One runs her own marketing company and the other manages a community-based transport organisation. Why should I vote for either of them to be paid over £100,000 to commission police services? What chance will I have to meet either at a public meeting before the election in a few weeks' time and ask questions relating to policing in my area? This isn't democracy – it's a shambles. Could we at least postpone the elections for a year on the grounds that it has not been properly thought out, rather like the badger cull? Dr Richard Turner Harrogate | • The candidates for the North Yorkshire police and crime commissioner posts have been announced. One runs her own marketing company and the other manages a community-based transport organisation. Why should I vote for either of them to be paid over £100,000 to commission police services? What chance will I have to meet either at a public meeting before the election in a few weeks' time and ask questions relating to policing in my area? This isn't democracy – it's a shambles. Could we at least postpone the elections for a year on the grounds that it has not been properly thought out, rather like the badger cull? Dr Richard Turner Harrogate |
| • I received a letter, purporting to come from Rebecca Bailey, "a busy mum living in Cheshire". It encloses an application form for a postal vote and urges me to use my chance to vote Labour in the police and crime commissioner elections. Reading the small print, I learn that the letter doesn't in fact come from a harassed mother, but from Labour Northwest, Warrington. Now I don't blame the Labour party for trying to get my vote. I'm sure all the main parties are doing the same. But I thought that, in selecting a person to be a commissioner, we were voting for an independent person who would do his or her best to use their specialist knowledge to reduce crime in our area. However, it now seems that we are being asked to vote for a politician attached to a party. What has this to do with crime prevention? | • I received a letter, purporting to come from Rebecca Bailey, "a busy mum living in Cheshire". It encloses an application form for a postal vote and urges me to use my chance to vote Labour in the police and crime commissioner elections. Reading the small print, I learn that the letter doesn't in fact come from a harassed mother, but from Labour Northwest, Warrington. Now I don't blame the Labour party for trying to get my vote. I'm sure all the main parties are doing the same. But I thought that, in selecting a person to be a commissioner, we were voting for an independent person who would do his or her best to use their specialist knowledge to reduce crime in our area. However, it now seems that we are being asked to vote for a politician attached to a party. What has this to do with crime prevention? |
| Also, is it correct for the office of a political party to receive my application for a postal vote? Shouldn't this go to the local authority running the election? Otherwise it would seem too easy for votes to be manipulated to the party's favour in some way. Jane Barth Frodsham, Cheshire | Also, is it correct for the office of a political party to receive my application for a postal vote? Shouldn't this go to the local authority running the election? Otherwise it would seem too easy for votes to be manipulated to the party's favour in some way. Jane Barth Frodsham, Cheshire |
| • The Tories canvassed vigorously against the alternative vote arguing, inter alia, that voters wouldn't understand it. If they thought it was such a bad method why are they using it for the election of police commissioners? David Salmon Shiplake, Oxfordshire | • The Tories canvassed vigorously against the alternative vote arguing, inter alia, that voters wouldn't understand it. If they thought it was such a bad method why are they using it for the election of police commissioners? David Salmon Shiplake, Oxfordshire |
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