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[mantahatch]

Just been reading about the PCC votes and how they expect turn out to be very low, will you be voting ?

I personally have just filled out my voting card. Not sure I like the idea of a "second choice".

I did not want to vote for a political party but there was litlle choice thanks to the £5000 entry fee.

[albitz]

Yes.

[Vamps]

Yes, choice of 4, 1 Conservative, 1 Labour, 1 independent and 1 UKIP      The UKIP person has the best write up and not allianced against the main political parties......I have to make a decision somehow.....

[mantahatch]

My choice was liberal, conservative, labour, UKIP and Independant. I will admit I have voted UKIP for first choice and Independant as second choice.
I am annoyed there are was not more real independants as the our independant is a local councillor or something like that and his son is serving officer, hardly independant in my opinion. But better than the main 3.

I did read all there statements, sadly they read like standing for local elections 

[ozzycat]

yes

[omega3000]

Signed and sent off yesterday . Ukip 

[RobG]

Haven`t received anything yet, but it`ll go where all the other crap goes

[Mrs Cakey]

I would like to vote but until the ballot papers arrived yesterday (we always vote by post) I didn't even know who was standing 

Now have a list of names but still no wiser

[Rods2]

Yes, I always vote at all elections, so it is valid for me to moan about elected officials (not that I ever do mind you ) and also out of respect for those that have died through the ages, for freedom and democracy, so we have the chance to vote.

Until a few minutes a go I didn't even know who the list of candidates were, but they can all be viewed at this website along with their election statements:

http://www.choosemypcc.org.uk/

UKIP candidate first and independent as second choice, both look good candidates. The Conservative entry is an incumbent ex-Police Commission member and as a Conservative area, I expect this candidate will win. But I hope he has a run for his money, through tactical voters, such as myself.

[geoffr70]

I will be voting, only to try and keep people with certain ideologies out of that office.

I think it is an Americanism, a gimmick, and wrong to politicise policing this way. Yes, apparently the elected person will not have input on operational policing, so then what's the point? More beaurocracy and expense to the taxpayer, about 70k a post isn't it?

1. UKIP - a true conservative party
2. Conservatives - better than the rest

[Nick W]

I have a huge problem with the entire idea.

It's a typical politican's solution to  a problem that doesn't exist. Quite how UKIPs mandate is relevant to such a local issue is beyond me.

Adding another top level of elected bureaucracy is going to add nothing but extra cost.
What is the Police Commisioner going to be able to do that the Chief Constable, and the political commitee that he already reports to, can't already do?
Making the local Police more effective can surely only be acheived within the local Police stations. That makes it mostly the responsibility of the lower management such as sergeants and inspectors. Something that is true of all large organisations.

The top job should be there to ensure that standards and effectiveness are met. We should be making it personally responsible again for such things, along with corruption. I realise that responsibilty is now a deeply unfashionable concept, let alone personal responsibility, but that needs to change. The world would be a much better place for it.

[cleggy]

Sent mine back as a spoiled paper, wrote none of the above.

I simply cannot agree with politics ruling our Police force or their objectives, the Police do a job with a mandate to police by our consent not what a political party decide. Let's look at Westminster, do the self serving politicians act according to the will of their constituents or follow the party line? You only have to look at what your MP voted for, is it what you wanted......... NO

Another waste of time and money, which could be better spent on a referendum on EU membership which most of us consider far more important than jobs for the boys like Prescott, who know nothing about policing, crime, etc etc.  

[Kevin Wood]

Can't see the point, myself. Why are we politicising the Police?

The Police exist, as I see it, to prevent and detect crime, and to deliver the perpetrators to the CPS for prosecution. What constitutes a crime is determined by Parliament and whether an individual is guilty of a crime is decided by the Judiciary.

In short, the Police commissioner has a well-defined job to do with no scope for any discretionary leeway. The law is the law. Let's have him chosen by those who understand the job and the qualities required, and sacked if he doesn't perform. Need it be any more complex than that?

[albitz]

The committees that Chief Constables report to have been abolished. The new commissioners are replacing them. The police have already been very politicised indeed.They have been infested by yoghurt knitting lefties from the top down. I suspect this is a tactic to try to help reverse that trend,but cant really see howit will work tbh.
Still,its a chance to try to vote someone in who broadly thinks the same way I do, so UKIP get my vote,as always.
Those who think they are a single issue party and not relevant to things such as policing should do a little bit of research.

[geoffr70]

Exactly Albs! I couldn't agree more, regarding the UKIP bit. Do people think they want to get us out of Europe then disappear? That's what it seems like!! Strangely! The way I see it it will always be a battle against the rising tide of ignorant leftism, spreading and imposing itself on everyone, much like a virus.