Message from Staffordshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner

Forty months to prove the role!

Part of my job over the next few years is to dispel the myth that PCCs would politicise the police service and to show that better policing and crime reduction can happen despite the financial challenges faced.  If I can do that, and I believe it is entirely possible, the concept will be proven, fears will be allayed and the next PCC elections should see a more informed population and greater electoral turnout.

At the time of writing this, I’m travelling back from London after 8 hours of intensive briefings by the Security Services on counter terrorism and organised cross border crime.  It was truly sobering and highly thought provoking.  But despite those responsibilities, I will not lose sight of my promise for Staffordshire of great value, visible local policing and a more responsive police service.

And after just 8 days in office four million pounds in administrative savings have been found meaning I’m considering ceasing the forced early retirement of experienced police officers which has been in place for two years and also restarting police recruitment which has been frozen since 2009.  Two things that are the result of new thinking that define the concept of the PCC.

By the time you read this I will have made those decisions, one way or the other, and the first part of my five point plan to make policing more visible in communities will have started alongside a freeze in the local council tax people pay toward policing.

It’s been a fascinating and productive first week in office and worries I may have had that opportunities for improvement may be more limited than I hoped are a distant unfounded concern.  There’s plenty!

Matthew Ellis – Police and Crime Commissioner for Staffordshire