A “fantastic” first year, says PCC Nick Alston

THE scrutiny of Essex Police has improved since Police and Crime Commissioners were introduced, the man in the role has said.

Nick Alston, Conservative PCC for Essex, is very positive about the work of PCCs, saying it has been a “fantastic” first year.

“The old police authority were invisible. I am absolutely visible. I am very confident that it has been an improvement on the old arrangements,” said Mr Alston.

He says the relative profile of his new role allows the commissioner to focus on a single issue – in this case, domestic abuse.

“I have been able to make real difference in an area that has previously tied the police up in knots,” says Mr Alston. “I have been able to unravel those knots with the chief constable. It will be two or three years before we see a difference, but we have seen an increase in reporting. And we are getting much better engagement with the NHS, probation, social service and women’s groups. Could police authorities have done that? It would have been very difficult, with 17 people.”

Mr Alston also believes scrutiny has improved under the new system: “Every week I meet the chief constable for an hour and a half and I can ask searching questions, I can take the discussion where I need to, whereas a committee is just different. You have got real difficulty with 17 people politically in-fighting, it is difficult to stay on point and hunt down the issues that need hunting down.

“I think in the beginning we were all uncertain about how the system would work. I think it has been better then we would have expected and certainly than how the critics would have expected.”

When PCCs were introduced in November last year, many questioned the cost involved in dismantling the old system of police governance to set up an entirely new one, estimated by one PCC as £100million. This, said the Labour Party, could have paid for 3,000 extra police officers.

Others were vehemently opposed to allowing politicians control of the police service.

Fewer than 15% of people turned out to vote in the 41 elections in England and Wales last year – a historically low turnout.

“That is derisory,” said Bob Jones, the Labour PCC for West Midlands Police. “The public didn’t vote with their feet – to show what they thought.

“I think we could have found a much better use of £100 million.”