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, from today until Monday 12th November (exclusive of Sunday). They will then be published together on Wednesday 14th November – the day before the election.
They are in alphabetical order and today Rachel Rogers is interviewed by Nick King.
NK. Much has been made of the ‘Police’ part of the PCC role, but little about the ‘Commissioner’ part. What experience do you have of commissioning services and how would you going about doing so?
RR. For me, “Commissioner” is the most important word in the title of the role. We are not electing “Supercop”: the Chief Constable will remain in charge of operational policing.
The Police and Crime Commissioner will hold the budget not just for Dorset Police but also for a wide range of community safety services including Drug and Alcohol Teams, Youth Offending Teams and victims services. One of my key ambitions is to ensure that services are designed for the convenience of service users not service providers, working across local authority boundaries and budgets.
Commissioning is a central part of the approach to redesigning services because it offers a means of joining up resources to focus on improving outcomes. The key issues are:
· what services do you “commission”
· who do you “commission” them from?
I have previous experience both of commissioning and tendering for services (in the Prison Service) and of working for a contracted-out service, so I understand the importance of effective commissioning and the difference between commissioning and procurement. Effective commissioning comes from understanding the outcomes you want to achieve, optimising resources, targeting priority areas and choosing the right mechanism of approach. All of this relies on having accurate data and a clear vision.
It is vital for commissioners not to be seduced by the offers of the private sector, to distinguish between “cheap” and “value for money”, to identify priorities and target resources effectively, to recognise how dangerous outsourcing can be – particularly if you don’t know exactly what you want or need, don’t ascertain that any contracts are properly let, don’t have sufficient upstream markers to ensure downstream delivery and don’t have an effective post-contract monitoring system.
NK. There has been much concern about the party politicisation of the PCC role, how would you reassure voters that you would serve all parts of the community?
RR. There is a common misconception that there is currently no politics in policing. This is an erroneous believe. Politics has always been in policing by virtue of:
· the police’s location with this Home Office;
· the fact that the Home Office sets the polices budgets and targets;
· and the fact that, closer to home, the police have been held to account by Police Authorities made up largely of local councillors.
The difference with PCCs is that some of that central control will become localised though much of the funding will still emanate from central government so even the impression of total local control is misleading. All PCCs will be politicians, because spending public money is an inescapably political act. The choice isn’t politician/non-politician – it is aligned/non-aligned. PCC’s will be sandwiched between Chief Constables, who are consummate politicians and the Police and Crime Panel, which is largely made up of local politicians. If the PCC is not an effective politician, s/he will be “eaten alive”. An ineffective politician will make an ineffective PCC.
As far as party politics is concerned, clearly the PCC is there to be the voice of the people. PCCs will swear an oath of impartiality and will be elected to serve all parts of the community, operating with the same independence and discretion that local government councillors do and with the same absence of centralised influence.
The key is effective consultation and communication to identify the public’s concerns about crime and policing, concern which will inform priorities and targets both for the police and for the community safety sector. There is no way that any candidate can tell you every decision they will make over the next three and a half years, A political label acts like a kitemark: it tells you what the candidates core values are, which way they will blow in a storm, what the essence of their philosophy will be. My label tells you that my core values are fairness, justice, social equality. And that applies to every resident of and visitor to Dorset.
NK. How do you view the role of PCSOs?
RR. PCSOs play a vital role in working with communities, building relationships with residents and engendering trust. This confidence encourages the public to confide in
the PCSO, to report crimes that they may not otherwise have reported, to pass on information that otherwise might have gone missing. This information in turn enables better targeting of staff and resources and creates safer communities.
NK. How can you improve communication between the people of Dorset and their Police Force?
RR. Many police forces appear to struggle to communicate effectively not just with the public but also with the media and with their own staff. Dorset Police is no exception. The first thing to do is to consult widely with Dorset people to establish their opinions about crime and policing in their area. Meetings and online consultations aren’t enough – many people are unable to attend meetings and many don’t have access to the internet. We need to be more creative, using existing trusted networks as a means of asking the right questions and finding out the right information. For example, lots of families with young children use Sure Start centres, elderly people use Third Age services, people who are disabled have specialised networks, young people contribute to Dorset Youth Council and are members of many clubs and groups and many councils have Community Development Workers located in the more deprived wards. There are also existing networks of Watches (Home Watch, for example) and Dorset, Bournemouth and Poole also each have a network of voluntary and community actions groups (DCA, BCVA, PCVS). And finally Safer Neighbourhood Teams also have strong links with communities which should be exploited as much as possible.
These networks are already embedded in communities, and are able to ask questions and interpret answers so that consultation can be as meaningful as possible.
But communication is a two-way process: it’s not just a matter of finding out what people think; there is also a requirement to feedback what you have done with that information in terms of priorities, targets and outcomes. The formal way of doing this is via the annual publication of the Police and Crime Plan but there are myriad different ways of communicating with the public:
· via the networks mentioned above;
· via newsletters and briefings;
· via surgeries and public meetings;
· via a dedicated (and more accessible) website and a Facebook page;
· via twitter accounts, including one for each SNT.
And it’s not just about the means of communication – it’s also about the message The police are understandably cautious about the way that information is communicated to the public but in my opinion they are too cautious, particularly in respect of their use of social media and in their dealings with the press. The press should be a partner, not an enemy: if you don’t feed the press with accurate information they will simply make things up so that you are on the back foot and having to challenge. I aim to redress this balance so that the police remain in control of the message rather than handing control to the press. And as far as social media is concerned, there are examples of good use around but this needs to be extended, both within the police and within the community safety strand. This will require a cultural change and is a significant commitment but it will pay dividends in terms of building trust and confidence.
NK. What is your vision for Dorset Police in 3 ½ years’ time if you are elected PCC?
RR. More in touch with community concerns
· Improved public confidence in the police
· Improved reporting of crime in Dorset (bearing in mind that this may cause crime to appear to rise)
· Resource more closely matched to communities’ needs
· More evidence based solutions
· Improved external communication strategy leading to more confident relationships with the public and the press
· Improved internal communications strategy leading to improved morale amongst officers and staff of all grades.
· An improved 101 telephone service
· Police remaining in charge of neighbourhood policing.
· An improved service for victims of crime
· A more open and transparent culture where people are rewarded for work and commitment and challenged when things go awry.
And beyond Dorset Police:
· More effective use of taxpayers’ money by better commissioning of community safety services across local authority boundaries leading to an improved service for the public
· A more joined-up approach to the Criminal Justice Service as a whole
On Monday the last of the 4 interviews will see Martyn Underhill being interviewed by Rachel Rogers
