South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner, Will Labour Choose the Best Man for the Job?

By: N_Walayat

The coalition government's reform of England and Wale's Police forces will soon kick into gear in the run up to the November 15th elections for Police and Crime Commissioners to replace Police Authorities, who will be tasked with holding police forces to account including the power to hire and fire chief constables as well as set force priorities in response to the populations needs.

Soon there will be a rush of candidates declaring their intentions to stand for election representing each of the three main parties as well as independant's. However the election of a Police Commissioner is highly skewed in favour of the selected Labour candidate in South Yorkshire as being a traditional Labour voting county for several decades which is even more so during periods of government opposition. Therefore there is a very high probability of at least 70% that South Yorkshire's first Police Commissioner will be whomever the Labour party puts forward as a candidate during the summer, which means it is imperative that Labour selects and party members vote for the best person for the job in the interests of the general public.

Excluding the Extreme Ends of the Spectrum

There are two extreme ends of the candidates spectrum that would in my opinion result in a disastrous selection and which Labour would come to regret in the election as they would tend to turn voters off.

At one extreme there are the senior career police officers such as former Chief Constables who have spent a lifetime in service of the police force and fully understand what is best for the police, however automatically favouring the interests of the police would not be the same as what is in the best interests of policing for the general public which is the remit for an elected Police Commissioner.

Similarly at the other end of the extreme spectrum we have career activists that fall into the human rights lawyer category that seek out conflict with the police at every opportunity in an exaggerated sense of Justice whilst failing to comprehend that the role of the Police Commissioner requires compromise between the interests of the Police and the Public.

Choosing the best person for the Job

Key criteria that Labour party members should evaluate over the coming months as they seek to endorse an official candidate are that the candidate should -

* have many years of experience in liasing with senior police officers in a constructive manner as well as have a good understanding of the management structure of South Yorkshire Police force, for instance a former or serving member of the existing Police Authority.

* have several years experience of representing the general public in an elected capacity and therefore be in tune with the population's needs and expectations as well as being able to communicate with the general population in an easily understandable manner with regards clear goals and objectives so as to improve relations between the Police and the public.

* have experience of working at a senior level in a public service organisation with demonstrable operational, leadership and strategic planning skills.

* have commercial acumen, so as being aware of the governance and requirements of working within a business environment such as understanding of financial accounting and budgetary control processes.

* be a long standing resident of South Yorkshire so as to have an affiliation with the counties communities and empathise with the experiences and concerns of all sides, rather than be an outsider bussed in from another region. The last thing the county needs is a Westminister dinosaur making a last attempt at grab at power.

* be a local Labour party member of many, many years so as to ensure that the views of the majority of the electorate are well understood in the Labour tradition , as well as demonstrating a real commitment rather than being an phony opportunist who has only recently joined the Labour party in response to the Police Commissioner job opportunity.

The Labour party selection process will over the coming months reveal its list of candidates from which Labour party members will vote on during the summer. Hopefully the list of candidates will comprise those that actually are the best person for the job rather than senior Labour party officials attempting to dictate who should represent South Yorkshire such as a former Chief Constable, a candidate the voters would see through as being little more than another Chief Constable in Sheep's clothing, and thus turn voters off, failing to get the Labour vote out and thereby risk losing a winnable election for Labour in South Yorkshire to a more appealing independant candidate.

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By Nadeem Walayat

http://www.marketoracle.co.uk

Copyright © 2005-2012 Marketoracle.co.uk (Market Oracle Ltd). All rights reserved.

Nadeem Walayat has over 25 years experience of trading derivatives, portfolio management and analysing the financial markets, including one of few who both anticipated and Beat the 1987 Crash. Nadeem's forward looking analysis focuses on UK inflation, economy, interest rates and housing market. He is the author of three ebook's - The Inflation Mega-Trend; The Interest Rate Mega-Trend and The Stocks Stealth Bull Market Update 2011 that can be downloaded for Free.

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