Hertfordshire Police and Crime Commissioner Candidate, Liberal Democrat Christopher Townsend - Manifesto

Dr Christopher Townsend is the Liberal Democrat Candidate to be Hertfordshire's first Police and Crime Commissioner. Learn more about Christopher and his Progmamme of Action by visiting his website www.christophertownsend.org

CHRISTOPHER TOWNSEND'S MANIFESTO

Managing an effective police service, ensuring that crime levels remains low, that justice is seen to be served and that the Police budget is balanced are the challenges that we face. My principles are based on Policing by consent - every officer knows that their best partner in the fight against crime is the general public - getting the relationship right, and based on mutual trust and respect, is the key to achieving what must always be our first priority: low crime rates.

In summary, my priorities are;

1. 1. Keeping the overall crime rate in Hertfordshire low
2. 2. Make the Police budget balance, given 20% savings requirements
3. 3. Improving communication between the Police and the public

In what follows I have elaborated on each point and described how I will go about achieving results if elected.

Keeping Crime Low

Herts Constabulary have a very good record of keeping overall crime rates low, and this record needs to be kept going forward. I would not seek to significantly change strategy as I believe that the Police must be allowed to get on with their job, without political interference. If there are concerns over certain crime rates, questions about the real measurement of crime statistics or spikes in particular crime types or crime hotspots, then I would see a role for the Commissioner, in establishing facts and principles on which strategy can be based. I do not believe that it is the Commissioners job to over-engineer solutions here other than to make this priority number one: Hertfordshire must remain a low crime area and the Police must be allowed to get on with their jobs. To help them do their jobs I will take steps to cut bureaucracy, for example by pushing for progress on IT projects like Project Athena, which aims to standardise data formats between forces and so ease communication.

Balancing the Budget

Following the government's comprehensive spending review in 2010, the region's Police forces knew that 20% savings were required. That was 2 year ago, but as of now, the only solution that has been almost fully worked through is an outsourcing contract with G4S. This followed a procurement exercise in March 2011.

I do not support the G4S contract, partly because of concerns expressed by the constabulary themselves over the workability of the contract, and partly because of the concerns that I have over the ability of G4S to deliver given the Olympics fiasco. However, we cannot bury heads in the sand and must face up to the need to put a viable savings plan on the table. To this end I have consulted with my candidate colleagues in Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire. By the three counties Police collaborating, we can develop joint Police organisational support services to cover areas such as Finance, Legal, Technology and Fleet. I am fully committed to putting in the management time and attention to detail that will be needed to make this work. In this area I will be hands on rather than hands off, as I believe that it is only through senior leadership actively working on these types of solutions that we can achieve the required savings.

Why are we in this situation?

The planning for savings has been mishandled by the existing political leadership of the Police Authority. Whilst alternatives are possible at this late stage, the vast majority of work has focused on an outsourcing arrangement with G4S. There is no developed Plan B, this is despite there being 2 years during which plans could have been developed. It is being left to Police and Crime Commissioners to pick up the pieces.

Improving communication between Police and the Public

The Police reach out to the community in a great many ways, all of which are positive. But there can sometimes be a sense that there are so many ways that it is difficult to work out what the face of the Police is, or what the core message is. I propose to work with the Police to see how we can streamline communication. In the old days, the hub was the police station. Now we need to plan for a new model, be it Neighbourhood Policing Teams, internet or phone base, or community meeting based. I will ask senior Police management to plan to rationalise the way that they communicate with the public to ensure that the Police, as much as possible, speak with one voice. Lets pick one way that works for Hertfordshire so that everyone knows what is going on.

Other commitments

My focus will not end with these 3 priorities:

• I believe in the Neighbourhood Policing Team model with its core PCSO element. I will seek to empower these Teams further and see them as having the potential to become the core group responsible for Police-Community relations
• Further work needs to be done to enhancing the OWL messaging system so as to improve Neighbourhood Watch.
• I will ensure that Victim and Witness support is a standing agenda item at all relevant senior management meetings.
• I will seek to continue the good work done by the various Community Safety Partnerships in Hertfordshire.
• I will seek to continue to explore restorative justice programs, with a view to ensuring that financial considerations are not stopping restorative justice from working.
• I will engage, robustly, with central government on the issue of Police Reform as articulated in the Winsor Report. This is not the report we hoped for.
• When offenders are forced to work for the community as punishment, the public rarely has a sense of what they actually do or achieve. I will work towards a mechanism of ensuring that the public sees the results of their work.

Thank you for taking the time to read this manifesto. I am not a professional politician, I am a hard working man with a young family, who became a local councillor to help his local community. I am appalled by the waste that occurs in local government and believe that my personal and professional experience can help the common good. Ultimately the decision of who you are going to vote for is yours alone to take, but I hope that you will consider voting for me and spreading the word about the seriousness of my wanting to achieve results on behalf the community. I am happy to take any questions on the manifesto:info@christophertownsend.org .

Cllr Christopher Townsend
Tring, Hertfordshire October 2012