“Don’t let the countryside get forgotten,” one of the people hoping to be in charge of overseeing Avon and Somerset Police has urged voters.
Benet Allen is the Liberal Democrat candidate hoping to be elected as the new Avon and Somerset Police and Crime Commissioner on May 2. He wants the police to be more visible, focus on crime prevention, and tackle more rural crime — despite thinking the role he is standing for is “largely, if not completely, unnecessary.”
Mr Allen was formerly the deputy leader of the now-disbanded Somerset West and Taunton Council, where he said he had gained a long experience of dealing with people in difficulties and the council had built the area’s first council homes for the last 30 years. He said: “The housing crisis and the shortage of affordable housing to the young generation is one of the things that drives people to crime.
“Most people don’t want to be criminals.”
Mr Allen also wants to see more of a focus on rural crime, adding that there were currently only four people in the force’s rural crime team. He warned that illegal fox and deer hunting was still happening in the Somerset countryside, along with organised crime, large scale thefts of machinery, and antisocial behaviour. He said: “Don’t let the countryside get forgotten.”
Across the whole area of Avon and Somerset, Mr Allen said he wants police to be more visible and see them speak to children in schools to help reduce knife crime. He said: “Prevention, prevention, prevention: it’s so much cheaper than a cure.”
He said: “We need to restore relations between the community and the police.”
There are also too few police and community support officers, he warned. But he added: “I’m not going to make any commitments about having more police because there isn’t any more money. But I will be going to Whitehall and be banging on the drum.”
One area which he does not think is understaffed is what would be his own team if elected. Mr Allen said: “The police and crime commissioners office has 31 full time staff; that’s a bloated office if ever there was one. […] The Liberal Democrats’ position on the police and crime commissioner is that the office is largely, if not completely, unnecessary.”
But he added: “Make no mistake, if you elect me as your police and crime commissioner, I will manage cautiously and carefully and on the basis of evidence on finding out what works and applying that.”
The election for Avon and Somerset Police and Crime Commissioner takes place on May 2, the same day as local elections to Bristol City Council and a Somerset Council byelection for Mendip South and a South Gloucestershire Council byelection for New Cheltenham. For most voters outside Bristol, however, the police and crime commissioner is the only local election happening on a day which will see all of England and Wales eligible to vote in a local election of some kind.
The police and crime commissioner sets the police precept part of council tax, decides how the budget is spent, sets local policing priorities, and can appoint and dismiss the chief constable. They also hold a regular performance and accountability panel, holding the chief constable and deputy chief constable to account on local issues.