PCSOs not Police Commissioners

As a former police officer I’ve worked alongside some incredibly talented PCSOs and am very concerned by the proposed cuts to PCSO numbers.

Cllr O'Brien, Medway Council Cabinet Member for Community Safety, has not served on the front-line and knows nothing of the hardships faced by officers every day. Cuts to police officer numbers, and PCSOs means taking risks with people’s safety, and flies in the face of Cameron's promise at the last General Election to protect front line services

Cllr O’Brien is calculating that by challenging the Kent Police and pinning the blame on them, he can somehow wash away responsibility for the cuts that his Government is inflicting on local residents. Crime costs the taxpayer and a reduction of police and PCSO numbers will have a significant economic and social cost.

If Cllr O’Brien were serious about PCSOs they would scrap their £2m proposal for an elected Police Commissioner, which equates to 100 PCSOs and 70 Police officers, and invest that on the front line.

Tory Police plan is reckless

It looks like the grassroots of the Conservative Party in Kent disagree with their erstwhile policy wonks in Medway and have expressed major concern about the forthcoming move to introduce elected Police commissioners.

In what will be seen as a direct snub to a number of extreme right-wing MPs the grassroots rebellion threatens to pit Conservative against Conservative.

The Kent Messenger Group is also likely to sit on the fence as it becomes increasingly clear this plan has zero support from the community.

Not one letter to the press, not one major campaign, not one well-known sponser outside of the political Oxbridge elite. The elite are simply out of touch with reality on the ground.

People in Medway are looking for the Police to combat crime not canvass for votes.

The Tory plan will see candidates (potentially aligned to the Police) spending thousands on election campaigns whilst residents begin to see the ill-effects of criminal cuts to Police which will impact the whole of Medway.

Millions wasted on elections as Police officers, PCSOs and support staff are axed.

There are concerns that an elected 'sheriff' will skew Police priorities away from urban low-voting areas into rural high-voting areas, which though politically popular, would lead to increasing crime rates. Going back in history we can see that Medway suffered from a lack of focus when it was part of KCC. The risk is a Kent-wide Commissioner will distort priorities away from Medway.

Medway Labour put a motion before Medway Council in 2010 to reject the proposal but local Conservatives opposed the Labour motion. Despite the fact we can see the ill-effects of partisan interference with the Police over the by-election in River ward in 2010 which saw a spat erupt between incumbent Conservatives who suggested the Police were bias.

Kent County Council Conservative leader Paul Carter agreed to write a letter to David Cameron warning him of the dangers of politicising the police, with Lib Dem group leader Trudy Dean due to add her signature.

The development has also been welcomed by the chairwoman of Kent Police Authority, Ann Barnes, who has been an outspoken critic of the plans to give one directly-elected individual the power currently held by 17 authority members.

Cllr Dean raised the issue at County Hall last week following allegations a handful of Met Police officers had been paid for supplying information to journalists at the News of the World. The force has also come under fire for botching a previous investigation into phone-hacking at the paper.

Cllr Dean said:

“This whole sorry tale proves that you need a complete separation between the police and elected government. You always need a separation between those who make the decisions and those who put them into operation.

“By introducing elected police commissioners you will merge those two roles and make these types of incidents far more likely to occur in future.

“It’s been an idea that’s been around for some time under both Labour and the Conservatives, and I think superficially it has an attraction of allowing local people to vote for police representatives. But the more you think about how that would work in practice, the more you realise the pitfalls that exist.

“As time has gone on, the voices of people against the proposals have grown louder and louder, and this whole scandal is an outstanding example of how things can go terribly wrong.”

Kent Police Authority currently consists of 17 non-elected board members, including a mix of independents and different party members from Kent County Council and Medway Council.

It is time for Tories to drop this pie-in-the-sky idea and get on with supporting our Police in fighting crime on the ground.

Tory hypocrisy on transport

It seems the issue of train fares and fuel cost still vex the wider public in Kent and especially amongst those like me, who have to commute and pay through the teeth for the pleasure of it.

This blog has highlighted Conservative hypocrisy on fares and trasport before. Most of the public realise that the Conservatives campaigned against train fare increases prior to May 2010, and once elected, reneged on that promise, extended the 3% RPI increase whilst additionally cut the rail grant.

Many of our Conservative MPs have also stood by the hard-pressed car user and in many cases highlighted the price of fuel across Kent.

Many have also backed the Kent Messengers Commuter's Charter campaign.

Interesting therefore that a number of our local Kent MPs have run up sizeable travel expenses at the public behest according to IPSA, the parliamentary expenses watchdog.

In addition, whilst members of the public are expected to pay their own taxi or transport fares with the high fuel prices, our MPs can claim this back at the public expense. Many appear very happy to do so.

Remembering the average MP's salary is £68,000, well above average, people in Kent may be interested to read the below:

All of the below is accessible on the IPSA Expenses website under 'travel' expenses for (2010/2011 Financial Year):

Rehman Chisthi - Gillingham & Rainham

Rehman campaigned against Transport Minister Paul Clark MP from his selection as Conservative PPC. He also campaigned actively at train stations on a ticket against train fare increases:

According to IPSA he claims £345.30 for a monthly season ticket. In addition to other 'travel' costs, he has billed a total of £2,176 at the public expense.

Gareth Johnson - Dartford

A campaigner against the Dartford Toll, which was quickly rebuffed after the Conservatives took power in May 2010.

According to IPSA he claimed £3,168 for 'travel' since taking office, primarily by car.

Adam Holloway - Gravesham

Another transport and commuter champion who backs Kent campaigns to cut the cost of travel for residents.

According to IPSA he claimed £1,046 for 'travel' since taking office in May 2010.

Mark Reckless - Rochester & Strood

Mark was formerly and is still a regular commuter and knows better then most the campaign pitfuls and perils of transport.

According to IPSA he claimed £104 for 'travel'

Tracey Crouch - Chatham & Aylesford

Despite having admitted to debt problems as a researcher in Parliament, she unlike her colleagues has been able to travel without billing the public [at all]. Perhaps those elsewhere should take note.

Gordon Henderson - Sittingbourne & Sheppey

A former Wayfield boy from Medway, surely he should know the impacts of transport costs on normal hard working families in the area.

According to IPSA this is not so. He billed £7,211 paying on car travel and congestion zone charging.

No wonder he has supported cuts to fuel cost.

Julian Brazier - Canterbury

Apparently believes that complaints about train fares have not been a 'torrent' in Canterbury but does believe they should raise their game.

Interesting his transport bills; including train fare payments and travel stands from IPSA at £2,378

Roger Gale - Thanet North

Another MP who appears to be paying the Congestion Charge and billing it back to the taxpayer. Up until January 2011, it would appear he has billed the public purse a no small sum of £3,138 according to IPSA

Laura Sandys - Thanet South

Like Tracey Crouch, Laura appears to have cut the cost of her transport bill to a more fair £394.40 according to IPSA, even though her constituency in Kent is arguably the most distant from Whitehall. Her colleague in Thanet North take note.

Charlie Elphicke - Dover

Charlie has spoken eloquently about how fuel costs are too high for many of his constituencts in Dover, including how he is getting daily correspondence on the matter.

He claims that the 'the price of fuel is a disgrace.' Interesting therefore that according to IPSA he claimed £2,592, aligned primarily to his own car usage.

Damian Collins - Folkestone & Hythe

Damian replaced the former leader of the Tories, Michael Howard, who was known to enjoy the slashing of cost. He has backed the KM Commuter's Charter.

He has billed on 'travel' £2,846

Damian Green - Ashford

Despite HS1 and good train links. Mr Green has shown some respect for the public purse it would seem. Only billing £50.00 on travel costs

Hugh Robertson - Faversham & Mid Kent

A commuter champion. Another Tory who has billed £2,232 on travel expenses up until January 2011.

Helen Grant - Maidstone & Weald

A strong commuter advocate who has done a lot of work to improve rail services for local residents.

Interesting her travel bill stands at £1,215

John Stanley - Tonbridge & Malling

Like Tracey Crouch has not billed the taxpayer at all.

Michael Fallon - Sevenoaks

Michael has seemingly kept his pledge to the commuter. His travel bill comes at £180.76

Many Kent Conservative MPs are claiming for travel costs way above the average annual South Eastern train commuter

The range is also worth noting; with some MPs clearly operating on tight transport margins at below £1,000 whilst others running up signficant costs. Given MPs offices are broadly similar in terms of number of staff and requirement, and travel within constituencies required for all; the range of costs is therefore warrant of further scrutiny.

It is also not an argument of Geography - Laura Sandys MP low 'travel' costs vary with Gareth Johnson MP who bills more.

As a hard pressed commuter and car driver. Ill let the commuters of Medway, and wider Kent, decide whether this is a tad hypocritical.

If you signed up to the Kent Commuter's Charter for a fair deal for commuters perhaps not claiming off the same public large expenses on the same fuel, travel and train fares is sensible.