LAST week saw the elections, for the first time ever, of democratically appointed police and crime commissioners.

These new commissioners will take over the responsibility of setting budgets – paid for through a combination of central government funding and through a local charge collected through all our council tax bills – and of setting policing priorities.

This was a policy that was offered as part of my party’s manifesto at the general election in 2010 and a policy that was endorsed by the coalition agreement. It is also a policy that I am fully supportive of for a number of reasons.

The old system, where police services were accountable to an appointed police authority, held no democratic mandate.

Moreover, they were costly to run with the West Mercia Police Authority taking around £1 million per year from frontline services. The new police commissioners will cost around one tenth of that.

The police do an incredibly important job. Ironically, the better they are at doing it, the less we should see of them. First and foremost, they protect us from crime and it is frequently only when a crime is committed that we see them in action.

But their important job of reassuring the public of their presence and work is also part of the role they play.

These elections have come in for some criticism about politicising the police force. But it was always political; just not in the right sort of way.

Central government is not best placed to decide on the policing priorities for Wyre Forest, and as the local MP, I have a very tenuous democratic connection with the police.

That is not to say that I don’t regularly catch up with the police and I certainly take up case work on behalf of constituents where the police are involved one way or another.

The police are always incredibly responsive to what local communities ask for, either through me or the PACT initiative. But when looking at the politics of this, it is important to remember what a politician is.

Like any other elected representative, the new Police and Crime Commissioner for West Mercia is a member of our community, selected by our community, to represent the interests of our community.

And that is what politics is all about, be it parish council, parliament or, now, policing. And the new commissioner will be doing just that.

I have written to our new PCC Bill Longmore to both congratulate him and offer my support in his important job. He is there to represent us all with regard to our safety and I am determined to help him in every way.

CONTACT YOUR MP

  • Email: mark.garnier.mp@ parliament.uk
  • Telephone: 020 7219 7198 or 01562 746771.
  • Write: 9a Lower Mill Street, Kidderminster, DY11 6UU, or House of Commons, Westminster, London