MP backs independents in police crime commissioner race

9:30am Monday 29th October 2012 in News

Sir Bob Russell is backing independent candidates Sir Bob Russell is backing independent candidates

INDEPENDENT candidates standing for the police and crime commissioner role have found an unlikely ally.
 

Colchester MP Sir Bob Russell, from the Liberal Democrats, has called for party politics to be kept out of policing.
 

He is urging voters to ignore politicians in favour of the two independent candidates standing in Essex.

The Liberal Democrats have not entered a candidate.
 

He said: “People thus have two votes. There are two Independent candidates.
 

“For those who do not think we should bring party politics into our police force I hope they will vote for both of them.
 

“Both of them have qualities which I feel are more important than giving a party political direction to the policing in Essex.”
 

His own party does not have a candidate standing in the November 15 election.

Find out more about each of the candidates for the Essex role in Tuesday's Gazette.

Comments(5)

Reginald47 says...
12:03pm Mon 29 Oct 12

Hardly an 'unlikely ally' then.

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Sdapeze says...
12:53pm Mon 29 Oct 12

I was intending to spoil my vote as I too believe that politics has no place in this ridiculous vote. The vote that I want to see is on the Human Rights Act. Sir Bob has made me rethink my strategy, so I will have a look at the independents. However, as I know neither of them and therefore have no idea how they think, I shall probably still spoil my vote in protest at my preferred option of more police on the streets.

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Citizen 139 says...
1:41pm Mon 29 Oct 12

I received the Labour candidates flyer through the door over the weekend, apart from the spelling mistakes I notice that she couldn't resist bringing politics into it.

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Bobby Walker says...
2:04pm Mon 29 Oct 12

The LibDems have decided to stand in only a limited amount of PCC elections, where they have most chance of winning. I hope Bob Russell states that people should vote for Independents standing against LibDems in other parts of the country.
It depends on the candidate of course.
Politics should have no place in operational police matters, but there should be public accountability. Feeble decisions are made when there is no genuine accountability for those decisions. Not all candidates would agree in the strategic policing priority of having more police on the streets, so vote for a candidate that supports it if that is what you want.

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Say It As It Is OK? says...
4:05pm Mon 29 Oct 12

Bob's own party does not have a candidate standing in the November 15 election.

That's the only reason why Bob is backing the independents so why doesn't he just be honest for once and say so rather than make out he believes there is no place for party politics in this election.

Who actually wants a Crime Commissioner anyway?

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