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HomeDorset NorthCrime & Punishment - Dorset NorthPolice and Crime Commissioner Interviews: The Nick King Interview by Andy Canning

Police and Crime Commissioner Interviews: The Nick King Interview by Andy Canning

Next Thursday (15th November) is the first ever elections across the country for Police and Crime Commissioner’s (PCC’s). Their purpose will be to represent each county. According to the Home Office the aims of the PCC’s are to ‘ensure the policing needs of their communities are met as effectively as possible, bringing communities closer to the police, building confidence in the system and restoring trust.’ More about the role of the PCC.

Dorset Eye contacted the four candidates who have put themselves forward to represent Dorset. They are Andy Canning (Liberal Democrat); Nick King (Conservative); Rachel Rogers (Labour) and Martyn Underhill (Independent). They have all agreed to be interviewed by each other.

We wanted to use a much more innovative approach than is the norm because we believe that it would enable the candidates to propose their own questions and therefore to be more proactive in the interview process and also to be a much more interesting perspective for the reader. Each candidate was allowed 5 questions.

The interviews will be published, individually until Monday 12th November (exclusive of Sunday). They will then be published together on Wednesday 14th November – the day before the election.

In today’s interview Nick King is interviewed by Andy Canning.

 

AC. For several years you have been a Bournemouth Councillor and part of a local authority that has led the way in privatising services. Recently there have been great problems as the chosen contractor, Mouchel, has hit financial difficulties. What is your attitude to privatising police services and how can the public be sure that you won’t allow free market ideology to ruin a service that the vast majority of people are happy with?

NK. The first thing to say is that while Mouchel may have restructured themselves that hasn’t impacted at all on the services they have provided in Bournemouth. The decisions we have taken in Bournemouth had, by April of this year, already delivered £32 million in savings for our ratepayers over the last 5 years, thereby ensuring that front line services have been unaffected by the cuts in Government funding for the Council.

I don’t support ‘privatisation’ of the police. But then the word ‘privatisation’ used by so many at the moment is entirely wrong in this context. Let’s be clear about the definition of privatisation – it means the transfer of services from the public to the private sector irreversibly, who then run independently.

What those using the word ‘privatisation’ are concerned about is out-sourcing. Choosing an external organisation to run a function that has, to that point, been managed in house.

Would I consider out-sourcing if I were Dorset’s Police and Crime Commissioner? Yes, I would.

If an external body can run a service better and more efficiently than it can be delivered within the organisation then I would look at that. There is of course a caveat to that statement – running a service ‘better’ means amongst other things retaining the confidence of both its customers and colleagues who have to work alongside it. That’s the reason I don’t believe that frontline policing should be considered for out-sourcing. I think the public have an expectation that police officers and staff undertake certain jobs, not just on the streets, but also in police custody suits and similar behind the scenes roles.

There are very many different forms of out-sourcing and the bodies undertaking them can be from the private, public or even third (voluntary) sectors. Dorset Police Authority already out sources some of its finance and HR functions to Dorset County Council for example. The financial landscape the first Dorset Police and Crime Commissioner will inherit is going to be really, really tough. If there is an opportunity, through working in partnership with other organisations to reduce cost elsewhere in order that resources can be concentrated on frontline, local policing then I wouldn’t hesitate to look at any option.

AC. On your website you make much of using your business experience to help improve the running of the police service. However, a quick check of Companies House records reveals that of 14 companies that you have been a Director of only one of them is still in business. Do you still feel that your business track record is really an asset?

NK. I think you will find that there are two companies of which I’m still a shareholder and Director. Those records cover a 20 year period and the companies with which I have been involved have included both commercial and not for profit entities. Some have been sold, some have merged and some have subsequently closed. 

I very much feel my business record is an asset. From the age of 24 I’ve worked hard to build successful businesses that have employed hundreds of people and contributed enormously to their local economies. I’ve invested considerable amounts of my own money to make sure those businesses are successful. And I have ensured they give something back to their local communities by supporting charitable works that have, for example, helped raise tens of thousands of pounds for local charities.

 AC. The one business that you are still listed as a Director of is Rubyz and the Spyre Clubs4. Will this position allow you to act in an unbiased manner when dealing with the night scene in Bournemouth and elsewhere?

I sold the business premises from which both Rubyz Ltd and Spyre (Bournemouth) Ltd operated at the beginning of this year and no longer took any active part in their business activities from the end of last year. Rubyz Ltd hasn’t operated a nightclub in Bournemouth since 2007, indeed the core of the business had always been, and remained, its restaurants. Spyre (Bournemouth) Ltd has never operated clubs.

I think my experience of operating businesses in the night time economy in Bournemouth equips me perfectly to deal with the problems we are experience in our town centres at night. When it did operate a nightclub, Rubyz Ltd was held out as an example of good practice by both the Council and Police. Having been a licensee I understand how the system operates and, more importantly, the responsibilities contingent on the operators of venues.

Most importantly, licensing is an issue for local councils, the Police are only a consultee in that process. Police involvement in licensing is additionally an operational issue that the PCC should have no involvement in whatsoever.

I think my business experience in the night time economy provides me with unparalleled knowledge that will enable me to best represent people’s concerns and suggest solutions to the problems we encounter in our town centres.

AC. It is often felt by the public that they are taken for granted by some politicians. Can you not see that your decision to resign your position as a Councillor even before the election day for the PCC position could be seen as taking your victory for granted? The PCC position surely needs to be filled by someone who listens to local people and not someone who takes their views for granted?

If I hadn’t resigned my seat on the Council this question would presumably have read ‘aren’t you committed to the new role because you’ve kept your seat on Bournemouth Council, you’ll have two jobs, will take two salaries and will cost the taxpayer many thousands of pounds by forcing a standalone by-election when you do stand down’.

There is some timeliness in Andy’s comment about listening to people and not taking people’s views for granted. We heard this week that a proposed development on the green belt in Littledown had finally been withdrawn. I was elected to Bournemouth Council in a campaign that started with representing local residents’ opposition to those plans. This at a time when the area’s Liberal Democrat councillors supported the proposal in the face of almost universal opposition from the people they were elected to represent. Listening to local people and representing their views has been central to my time as a councillor and no doubt explains why I have been re-elected three times.

I have been very proud to have represented Littledown and Iford for the last seven years on Bournemouth Council. Time, however, moves on and circumstances change. I no longer live in the ward, have a young family and decided it was time to stand down either to concentrate on being PCC, if I’m lucky enough to be elected, or to take up new challenges if I don’t win. 

AC. Your comments tend to show a marked interest in the Bournemouth and Poole area. How can residents of market towns and villages feel that you have their interests at heart and that you will protect rural policing?

NK. It’s such a shame Andy has been unable to join his fellow candidates at the hustings and meetings we have held across Dorset in the last few weeks. If he had done so he would have no doubt to my commitment to the entire County. Indeed, when we were in Dorchester, his home town, had he been at the hustings held there he would have heard me give a very clear commitment to maintaining the balance between urban and rural resourcing.

As a member of Dorchester Town Council Andy no doubt you will also have received my Parish and Town Council survey which specifically asks those who represent the market towns and villages what their policing priorities and community safety concerns are.

I have travelled to, and spoken with residents in, every corner of Dorset in the last three months. The list of locations visited on the Transparency page of my website gives a very clear indication of the breadth of that consultation. From that I have brought forward some very clear plans of how rural communities might be better served by the police: the introduction of parish police, support to establish rural Neighbourhood Watches and the introduction of Community Speed Watch schemes are just three.

 

Tomorrow Rachel Rogers will be interviewed by Nick King.

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