It was interesting to read that a group of local Quakers may spoil their ballot papers for the PCC elections http://www.lancasterguardian.co.uk/news/quakers-angry-over-police-poll-1-5107554
The headline for the article was 'Quakers angry over police poll' which is hard to believe considering that they are pacifists and lovers of peace and this includes the absence of anger. However I couldn't find fault with the article itself. As I write this blog the commemorations at the Cenotaph are just finishing and I noticed that Quakers were not represented. They probably think about war much more than the rest of us and they certainly made today's local news.
They are considering the validity of the election because of the lack of information on all candidates. Me too. I have read the election addresses on the internet for all four candidates in Lancashire but the vast majority will not know anything about the candidates apart from which party they represent. Many will not have the ability to access any further information. The Quakers are also concerned about the possible politicisation of the police. Me too. I would also add that corruption is simpler when power is held by one person. I wrote about this on the 24th June 2009. If you don't see how corruption is possible then simply consider the role of Mayor Quimby in the Simpsons.
All four candidates in Lancashire represent political parties. What does political ideology have to do with setting the priorities for the police force? What has party politics got to do with holding the chief constable to account? Local Quakers may spoil their ballot paper and there is nothing wrong with that. They will be saying that they want to vote but the system isn't good enough. There is no doubt that the system could be better.
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"What does political ideology have to do with setting the priorities for the police force? What has party politics got to do with holding the chief constable to account? "
ReplyDeleteBoth these points were present under the old system of police authorities (made up of mainly councillors plus some magistrates. The Lib Dems in Lancaster campaigned to keep that (politicised) system in the early 90s as I wrote their leaflets!
Thanks Hywel. I even have concerns about politicised police authorities even though their decisions were tempered by numbers. I am not sure that the smoke-filled Tory or Labour rooms are really the place to form policy that tells the police what they should be doing. If we leave it to individually elected PCCs then they may not even consult the smokers. At least Liberal Democrat policies come from the members.
ReplyDeleteTheresa May hoped the new commissioners would be independent of political parties. She will be disappointed.
I'm not on my own... http://aberavonneathlibdems.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/peter-black-backs-independent-for-pcc.html
ReplyDelete“The Welsh Liberal Democrats are not contesting this election because we believe that the Police should be above party politics,”