Police and Crime Commisioners - what a result

And the winner is.......  The not outstandingly ugly but slightly thick looking Tory MP who is already too busy to do the job, and only wants it so that the man who lives in the castle and drives many Jaguars doesn't get it.

Well I have to say now that I don't get it. At a time of austerity we as a nation have just spent £150 million to hold an election that less than 1/5th of us were remotely interested in. Add to that the salaries of the police commissioners over the next four years and we have, well I don;t know but a big pot of money. Divide the £150 by the 41 forces that had to elect a commissioner and you're looking at £3.6 million each. For this area the commissioners salary alone is £75,000 a year, so over four years there's another £300,000. Then there'll be his expenses, an office, a secretary, no doubt a company car run at public expense..........

The crime and police commissioner, in real terms is costing us at least £1 million a year!

So far as I can work out the Existing Police authority comprised of 9 elected Councillors representing the unitary authorities that comprise the borough, plus 8 independent representatives. Presumably the councillors  were, and will continue to be funded by their council salaries, and if I understand correctly the remaining 8 would only have been paid reasonable expenses. So unless the expenses of the 17 amounted to £58,000 each a year we are severely out of pocket on the deal.

And this at a time when our local police force is facing budgetary cuts of £23 million, with the loss of 440 officers. So, if my numbers add up we could have either had an election nobody wanted for a job that wasn't necessary, or we could have kept 75 of those 440 officers on the streets.

Only time will tell if the man is worth the cost.