Cop this … three vie for Crime Commissioner job

Yesterday, we wrote about policing – so it’s timely to take a look at the runners and riders so far who want to be the next Lincolnshire Place and Crime Commissioner.

Before Monday there were just two candidates – one Tory and one UKIP, but now there are three ... with the arrival of a contender representing Labour.

Most prominent to date in terms of putting himself about is Marc Jones (pictured left) – a county councillor and Portfolio Holder for Cuts at Clownty Hall.

He has a website which you can visit by clicking here 

It includes a leaflet containing five promises – along with a rather spooky photograph.

As always, tackling street drinking and anti-social behaviour is among them.

The other four are: Taking on new “Parish Constables,” focussing on crime prevention, tackling rural crime, treating victims as people not numbers, and cutting the costs of the commissioner’s office.

Tacking street drinking has not proved successful in the past, and there is no reason to assume that it will in future.

Parish Constables sound great on paper – and donkey’s years ago every village had a police house with a policeman in it on whom they could call.

Sadly, we would expect parish constables to go the way of all such ancillary policing – in that they will wander the streets for a while then disappear into cars, or hold surgeries in the local shop. We’ve seen it before – first with the “real” police and then with the PCSOs.

Not treating people like numbers is a non-starter – it’s what Authority does.

UKIP’s candidate (pictured centre)  is Victoria Ayling – another county councillor and a political chameleon who almost won Grimsby for the Tories in 2010 before defecting to UKIP for the 2015 contest. She came third – not far behind Mr Jones, who lost to Labour.

We can’t find a dedicated website for Ms Ayling’s campaign – but there is a 4m 49s YouTube pitch which you can watch by clicking here 

Shortage of funding has interestingly left Lincolnshire Police “stretched to the bone” – but “more visible policing” can help. … as can using our PCs and phones more to provide evidence.

“Visible policing “on the streets would be “in places where there are likely to be trouble spots.

“A culture of drunkenness in some of our cities means that residents are feeling unsafe.

“And places like Boston, which has become the murder capital of the country with a higher proportion of murders pro rata of the population than anywhere else.  Maybe drunkenness could be behind a lot of this, so we need to target maybe having a bigger police presence in areas like that.”

The third candidate, assistant head teacher at a school in Sleaford, Lucinda Preston  (pictured right) was chosen by Labour on Monday.

She says: “We all need to feel safe and secure in our homes and on the streets we walk down every day, so it’s important that our police force is tackling the problems that we really care about.

 “That’s why I’m listening to what people all across the county have to say.

“We all pay our taxes and everyone deserves effective policing, whether they live in a city, a market town or a small village.

“None of us are under any illusions about the challenges facing our local police. Over the last five years we’ve seen significant cuts in the number of police officers.  We can’t afford to lose any more frontline officers.

 “Lincolnshire needs a PCC that will stand up for local people and fight for a fairer deal for Lincolnshire. I’ll listen to the priorities of local people, set out a credible plan to tackle crime and make Lincolnshire an even safer place to live and work.”

  

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