‘Keep politics out of policing’

Cast your mind back to November 2012 when I was elected to be your Police and Crime Commissioner. I was an independent candidate who had never stood for election before. You were being asked to vote for someone you didn’t know, to do a job that no one knew about, at a time of the year when nobody voted. And 125,000 of you gave me a combined total of 125,000 first and second preference votes.  Thank you.

Since then we have had government cuts of £60 million, which has resulted in over 500 fewer Police officers. We still have to find £17m over the next four years.

So what will happen this May?

The political parties are desperate to win and they have party funding and vast resources of supporters all over Avon and Somerset. I am determined that party politics will have no part to play in policing. The Police is a complex organisation which provides an essential service 24/7. There is no space for party ideologies to play a role. The police are there to keep us safe. Full stop. The police belong to you and not to any party machine. 

I want to continue to protect residents and police from political interference. I am proud of being independent. I have served as your Police and Crime Commissioner without fear or favour. I am funding my campaign for re-election myself on a shoestring as I will not ask for money. In that way, I am never obliged to return a favour. I have always said that I am only answerable to residents of Avon and Somerset.

If I am still your Police and Crime Commissioner after the elections on 5th May, I want to continue to work with the police in preventing crime. We need to reinvest so that the police have the resources to tackle child abuse and sexual exploitation of these vulnerable children. But, equally importantly, we need to prevent these crimes from happening. I secured extra money from the Home Office and, with Barnardos, there is now a service across Avon & Somerset and Wiltshire that is currently supporting over a hundred young victims of child sexual exploitation. But there is so much more to be done. 

I will continue to be your voice. To listen to the quiet voices, to be a fierce advocate on your behalf and deliver results. From what I’ve learnt by listening to victims of crime and anti-social behaviour, I worked with the police to set up an enhanced service to vulnerable, intimidated or persistently targeted victims. And I am very clear that we needed to support victims of anti-social behaviour as well as crime. Being a victim of anti-social behaviour today could mean that you are a victim of crime tomorrow. We have already helped over 25,000 victims with this tailored support through out their whole journey. I have spoken to many who have been supported and they tell me that the service has given them hope and for some it has given them a new life. These voices must never be ignored again.

In the same way, I have always been clear that those individuals who are suffering a mental health crisis should never be held in police cells. These individuals have not committed a crime, but because of lack of suitable hospital beds, they are placed in police cells. This is Dickensian, and yet over 200 people have had to be placed in cells in the last year.  The police do not want to do this, they are completely united in knowing that this is not helping the person, and for many may be increasing their fear. So, by working with health partners over the last 3 years, I am delighted that our police will cease this practice from June 2016. If you broke a leg, you wouldn’t expect to be placed in a police cell, and so those who are mentally ill deserve no less.

Let me continue this work. Let me continue to be your voice. Together let us work with the police so we can be safe and feel safe. 

Please vote on May 5, 2016 

Keep politics out of policing.

Sue Mountstevens has been the Avon and Somerset’s police and crime commissioner since 2012. She is affiliated with the Independent Party. 

Read more: Sue Mountstevens restands for PCC job