Who’s going to be our new Police & Crime Commissioner?

Above image: @mistergrist

Cheshire residents will vote on May 2 for the county’s next Police & Crime Commissioner.

The job of the Police & Crime Commissioner (PCC) used to be done by the county’s chief constable – at virtually no cost, apart from his salary.

These days, along with elected city mayors, all forces have elected Police & Crime Commissioners – whose office costs council tax payers in Cheshire somewhere around £2 million a year.

Even the BBC have found it difficult to assess the true cost – https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22624096 but they assess the total cost of the UK’s Crime & Police Commissioners offices to cost us around £8 billion a year!

Do read the BBC’s report – it will probably shock you – then again.

The police and crime commissioner’s responsibilities include:

• providing efficient and effective policing for their area
• appointing the Chief Constable, holding them to account for running the force and, if necessary, dismissing them;
• setting the police and crime objectives for their area through a Police & Crime plan
• and setting the forces budget and determining the precept they will seek from council tax payers.

No doubt, like most people we speak to, you’re completely unaware that every year the Police & Crime Commissioner seeks council tax payers approval for increasing their budget.

You’re probably unaware, because it’s all done online – we at ilovemacc highlight the survey every year – but if you’re not a regular reader, or don’t search, you won’t know.

This means that year on year, because more people approve an increase than reject it, the money you pay out in your council tax increases.

Last year just 3,000 out of a Cheshire population of 1,000,000 responded – but as more voted for the increases than against, the increases are always ‘approved.’

As Cheshire Police employs around 2,000 it’s probably inevitable.

You can check this year’s ‘survey’ out below:

As the BBC conclude: “It is difficult to see how an interested member of the public would be able to get hold of this information, which is meant to be freely available.”

That being said, on May 2nd, you have an opportunity to vote for your desired candidate – assuming you’ve registered of course.