‘Our police need bold reform, that’s what I’m offering Avon & Somerset’

Our criminal justice system is broken.

Crime prevention has been abandoned in favour of a political arms race to put ever higher numbers of people behind bars.

Trust in the police is plunging to new lows across the country. Meanwhile, the Tories’ continued assault on social security and public services is driving up crime and poverty rates.

Next year, citizens across the country will vote for their Police & Crime Commissioner. I am standing to be Labour’s candidate for Avon and Somerset on a platform of social justice and giving true power to people over policing.

Many won’t know who their PCC is, and less than a third voted for one in 2021. Yet, these elected representatives not only set the police’s strategy, but are tasked with holding the force to account on behalf of the public.

They’re not a part of the police, but someone who can – if they want – drive the police in a progressive direction and robustly challenge them. If I’m elected, that’s exactly what I’ll do.

I’m focusing my campaign on the areas where the police are failing in Avon & Somerset: reoffending, racism and misogyny, the ‘war on drugs’, and civil liberties.

I’ve applied to be Labour’s candidate for Avon & Somerset Police & Crime Commissioner.

People have lost trust in the police due to institutional racism and misogyny, while the same tired approaches to policing are failing.

Here’s my radical manifesto for police reform ? (1/9) pic.twitter.com/TlBorH0AmZ

— Joe Rayment ?? (@joerayment91) May 26, 2023

Short term prison sentences are ineffective. They do not rehabilitate offenders, and instead result in high rates of reoffending. Even the Tories have previously embraced plans to eradicate them.

However, we continue to send people to prison for short periods of time, exacerbating homelessness, substance use, and unemployment, which all lead to greater crime.

As PCC, my strategic objective will be for year-on-year decreases in the number of people going to prison for less than two years.

It’s high-time politicians had a grown-up discussion about drugs and admit that the so-called ‘war on drugs’ has failed on its own terms. Not only has drug use not fallen, it has increased crime and harm.

Having worked in the substance misuse sector for seven years, I’ve seen this first hand and how the tough rhetoric of politicians results in hurting more people than it helps.

As PCC, I would take a radically different approach and redirect police resources. This means those who use drugs and commit non-violent crimes to fund drug dependency would get the support they need rather than get sent to prison.

I would fund innovative solutions like Diamorphine Assisted Treatment, ensure all officers carry the life-saving opioid overdose reversal drug Naloxone, and I would make Avon & Somerset a place where an overdose prevention centre can be set up without police interference.

Both home and abroad, recent history shows the police are institutionally racist and misogynistic. Yet, a culture of defensiveness means that it’s never addressed.

Through over-policing of disadvantaged areas, stop and search, and flimsy ‘bad apple’ excuses, institutional racism goes on unchecked.

The Casey Review provided further evidence that misogyny runs rife in the police, but whistleblowers are scared to come forward. Zero tolerance must mean zero tolerance.

Violent protests on the streets of Bristol shocked the country in 2021, and many people were imprisoned as a result. However, there has been no serious consideration of the role police played in sparking that violence.

I would launch a public inquiry into how those protests were policed, with the aim of ensuring that those nights are never repeated.

This is just some of what I’d do as Avon & Somerset PCC. I’ve launched a full manifesto on Twitter, and I’d encourage other candidates from both Labour and across the political spectrum to steal my ideas. The same tired approaches to policing have failed – it’s time for bold change.

Joe Rayment is a former councillor and parliamentary candidate, running to be Labour’s Police and Crime Commissioner candidate in Avon & Somerset.

Main photo: Joe Rayment

Read next:

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• Only eight per cent of rapes reported to Avon and Somerset Police lead to charges

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