Candidates battle it out to be Hampshire Police Commissioner (From Daily Echo)

Jerrard's the only one I can see as being anything but a politician.

Yawn, yawn, yawn! I can confidently predict probably the lowest turnout in electoral history.....

Ms Rayment - respect has to be earned, and the police have long since burned the considerable respect the British people had for them.

How about one of them pledging to serve the public rather than keeping us all under surveillance and threat of arbitrary arrest so we behave ourselves? Why not protect the people instead of the corporate fascist state and their crony politicians?

Nobody should vote for this commissioner nonsense, its not the cure for the rot and corruption at the heart of our establishment.

Although I have received my polling card, I have seen the adverts on TV, I have not received any information regarding the candidates nor have I seen a manifesto or a policy from any one of them.

Without informed information on the candidates how are we the people of Hampshire supposed to decide?

Are we to decide simply by which political party these people represent or that one stands as an independent ?

Is it worth the hassle of walking to my polling station on the 15th?

Probably not

Over the Edge says...
8:56am Fri 2 Nov 12

Exactly the same situation here in Bassett Southampton. Without any policy guidance, how can I make a reasoned choice of candidate?

It was very nice of them to have an open debate, but was it on local tv? if so I blinked and missed it! Nothing beats doing the rounds knocking on doors etc.

As the situation stands now wont waste my time voting.

I attended the Winchester University debate (very good job Winchester Uni!). I was surprised to find that at the end of the meeting not one of the candidates came over as a clear winner.

Mates is obviously a political heavyweight and it showed with clear forceful answers to questions, he doesn’t avoid the question. Jerrard as an independent came over as the only one with credibility as a whole as he had open criticism of the current system and said how he would address that, the other independent Hayes was exposed as someone who had run for a Conservative position but didn’t get it, so hardly an independent! West from UKIP tried to win ground with having being a special constable, but didn’t really have much to offer. Goodhall for the LibDems was the best prepared of the lot, his managerial background showed. Rayment for Labour obviously tried to lever her history of being the chair of the outgoing Police Authority (being replaced by the PCC) so is interviewing for her old job back, the problem being we question with Hants Constabularies poor performance (public complaints massively up by over 25% when other counties have seen drops – no surprise to see Chief Constable Alex Marshall move on) and her being part responsible then why should we vote for more failure given the opportunity for a clean sweep?

I was amused and disappointed to hear pandering in the form of praise for the current Chief Constable and Hampshire Constabulary, but when later failings were pointed out I was equally amused to hear distancing statements, this especially from Rayment.

All of the candidates seemed to roll out the same old story about being tough on criminals and more bobbies on the beat (except mates who stated this is a financial dream only) and none seemed to want to address one of the core parts of the new job description, and that is to police the police and select new Chief Constables. Quite honestly many of the things they said they would do I would expect Hants Constabulary to do as part of their daily job, and credit to them, they already do.

The PCC candidates need to justify their new positions, and they didn’t.

Given the failure of the IPCC to independently assign public compliant to a PSD that is not in the pocket of the local Police and given the poor performance of Hants Constabulary I would have to be putting the Independent Jerrard (didn’t avoid the issues and will not draw any of the £80k a year wage!) and the Conservative Mates (didn’t avoid the issues and gave clear answers with no concern for his popularity) in positions of 1 and 2 on my ballot paper (and I have no political allegiance to either and don’t know who would be #1) as they were the only candidates who directly addressed questions re policing the police and police complaints when the others had poor responses, and Rayment (as natural incumbent you would think) was and probably is part of the problem.

When Camaron announced the PCC position he said this would be non political (and credit to their LibDems, they said due to that they wouldn’t field candidates but had to as the others did) - so much for credible politics in Britain and for preventing the Police becoming politicised – some hope!

It was nice to also speak with young future journalist’s after the debate. Inquiring, critical and very professional on the night, they were a true highlight of the debate for those that noticed!

This politicising of the police is so wrong!

Why on earth would you trust a politician to do a decent job here, when they can't elsewhere is beyond me!

Rayment not the right character, backs a lying leader and an innocent man suffers as a result.
This wrong was only put right by the Echo investigator, Rayment did not disclose the truth.

aldermoorboy wrote:
Rayment not the right character, backs a lying leader and an innocent man suffers as a result. This wrong was only put right by the Echo investigator, Rayment did not disclose the truth.

He has never been innocent in his life. As for suffering, I wish.

Last night's debate was good and well done to the uni for arranging it.

candidates ?

Hayes was revealed as a tory wolf in sheep's clothing. £10 million rise in peoples taxes. nice One. Playing personal politics with our money.

Jacqui R. came across very well. passionate but can't run a budget to save her life.

Mates.Big hitter, but not everyones cup of tea. We'll get what we pay for with him: results!

West: so far out of his depth it was embarrassing.

Goodall: He's not interested. he's just the Lib Dem fall guy.

Jerrard: said he would "force the CPS to find evidence". Imposing the police state he says that he is against !

Take your pick.....

I always vote in elections which are interesting. As this one is anything but don't expect to see me there.

Having given the impression they won’t be putting candidates and then having done it, the Lib Dem have behaved as per their DNA. They will say one thing and then do the complete opposite, so their candidate most certainly should be avoided.

NuLabour’s Cllr. Jacqui Rayment is part of the existing problem, so can’t be the solution.

Not only her record as outgoing Chair of now defunct Police Authority, but also as Deputy Leader of Southampton Council should make her unsuitable for this position.

If she can casually sign off statement full of LIES ( as was forced to admit in full council meeting by the opposition) and still have the cheek to lose cool when the opposition rightly demanded full details, which she refused, how could her party have even considered her as candidate is beyond belief.

Echo has also exposed whole of the NuLabour Group (which she basically controls because their Dear Leader is mostly away) as having behaved badly so they are subject of an enquiry for alleged wrong doings. If the result of that she may get tainted, that could put the office of PCC into embarrassing situation.

In my view Introduction of PCCs in our policing is step in the wrong direction, it will politicise the institution of policing and in the long run is likely to destroy it perceived image of police neutrality.

As it has now become a party political based contest personally I would have voted for a Socialist or Green candidate, and in their absence opted for somebody from Labour, provided they had the sense to field a candidate with credibility, but not for Cllr. Jacqui Rayment who has proved to be exceptionally bad even when measured with low standards of mobsters of Milliband.

Considering in Alan Whitehead and John Denham the NuLabour has got two exceptionally able and intelligent MPs, if the party had bit of common sense it should have asked one of them to stand down from parliament and go for this job. But NuLabour did not. So I can’t even force my self to vote for NuLabour’s current candidate.

Turn out is likely to be disturbingly low, Tory votes will be divided, so Rayment may be lucky to win the lottery. If that happens even us unbelievers will have to join the God Brigades and start praying for Hampshire Constabulary.

S00001 wrote:
I attended the Winchester University debate (very good job Winchester Uni!). I was surprised to find that at the end of the meeting not one of the candidates came over as a clear winner.

Mates is obviously a political heavyweight and it showed with clear forceful answers to questions, he doesn’t avoid the question. Jerrard as an independent came over as the only one with credibility as a whole as he had open criticism of the current system and said how he would address that, the other independent Hayes was exposed as someone who had run for a Conservative position but didn’t get it, so hardly an independent! West from UKIP tried to win ground with having being a special constable, but didn’t really have much to offer. Goodhall for the LibDems was the best prepared of the lot, his managerial background showed. Rayment for Labour obviously tried to lever her history of being the chair of the outgoing Police Authority (being replaced by the PCC) so is interviewing for her old job back, the problem being we question with Hants Constabularies poor performance (public complaints massively up by over 25% when other counties have seen drops – no surprise to see Chief Constable Alex Marshall move on) and her being part responsible then why should we vote for more failure given the opportunity for a clean sweep?

I was amused and disappointed to hear pandering in the form of praise for the current Chief Constable and Hampshire Constabulary, but when later failings were pointed out I was equally amused to hear distancing statements, this especially from Rayment.

All of the candidates seemed to roll out the same old story about being tough on criminals and more bobbies on the beat (except mates who stated this is a financial dream only) and none seemed to want to address one of the core parts of the new job description, and that is to police the police and select new Chief Constables. Quite honestly many of the things they said they would do I would expect Hants Constabulary to do as part of their daily job, and credit to them, they already do.

The PCC candidates need to justify their new positions, and they didn’t.

Given the failure of the IPCC to independently assign public compliant to a PSD that is not in the pocket of the local Police and given the poor performance of Hants Constabulary I would have to be putting the Independent Jerrard (didn’t avoid the issues and will not draw any of the £80k a year wage!) and the Conservative Mates (didn’t avoid the issues and gave clear answers with no concern for his popularity) in positions of 1 and 2 on my ballot paper (and I have no political allegiance to either and don’t know who would be #1) as they were the only candidates who directly addressed questions re policing the police and police complaints when the others had poor responses, and Rayment (as natural incumbent you would think) was and probably is part of the problem.

When Camaron announced the PCC position he said this would be non political (and credit to their LibDems, they said due to that they wouldn’t field candidates but had to as the others did) - so much for credible politics in Britain and for preventing the Police becoming politicised – some hope!

It was nice to also speak with young future journalist’s after the debate. Inquiring, critical and very professional on the night, they were a true highlight of the debate for those that noticed!

Thanks for very good report of the meeting. Pity Echo’s hack could not do the same.

Northamboy wrote:
I always vote in elections which are interesting. As this one is anything but don't expect to see me there.

I understand that sentiment, and I believe that unfortunately we will see a low turnout. BUT – THIS VOTE – your vote! IS TOP IMPORTANT.

This is the first time we have an influence (no matter how small, no matter how politically polluted) to vote a non policeman or woman who will be accountable (!!!) to the public into a top job ‘within’ (overseeing) each constabulary.

Recent news regarding the activities of chief constables throughout the UK (regardless of the poor performance of our own CC A.Marshall) should tell us this jobs for the boys promote from within position of too much power, called a Chief Constable, is too important to be left to the Police! Even one of the political candidates is preferable to a Chief Constable operating alongside a too cozy Police Authority.

The overall management of the Police is too important to be left to the Police – across the UK they have unfortunately lost the trust of the public and have lost integrity. The fact that Theresa May has been given so much stick by the Police tells us they don’t like her breaking up their club – now ask yourself why, or simply read the newspapers and you’ll know why.

Read through each candidates manifesto here http://www.choosemyp
cc.org.uk/ then use your vote. Don’t let this important issue be decided by a politically motivated minority.

If you support the Police as I do, then at least, accepting the PCC job is happening, make sure we give this vote the attention and respect it deserves. Over time I prey this commissioner position is part of the solution to better policing in Hampshire, if it isn’t it’s just another £80k of taxpayers money a year plus expenses layer of worthless red tape.

It’s in our hands on voting day.

The ballot asks for two votes – first and second preferences. There was a referendum only last May that rejected alternative voting methods in favour of keeping the single vote method. How come the organisers can ignore that referendum and ask for two votes?

good-gosh wrote:
The ballot asks for two votes – first and second preferences. There was a referendum only last May that rejected alternative voting methods in favour of keeping the single vote method. How come the organisers can ignore that referendum and ask for two votes?

Because that referendum was about election for a completely different thing?

10 Minute Man wrote:
Ms Rayment - respect has to be earned, and the police have long since burned the considerable respect the British people had for them.

How about one of them pledging to serve the public rather than keeping us all under surveillance and threat of arbitrary arrest so we behave ourselves? Why not protect the people instead of the corporate fascist state and their crony politicians?

Nobody should vote for this commissioner nonsense, its not the cure for the rot and corruption at the heart of our establishment.

That's pretty much exactly the ticket Jerrard is running on 10 minute man. Sounds like you could put your vote to good use.

cantthinkofone wrote:

good-gosh wrote:
The ballot asks for two votes – first and second preferences. There was a referendum only last May that rejected alternative voting methods in favour of keeping the single vote method. How come the organisers can ignore that referendum and ask for two votes?

Because that referendum was about election for a completely different thing?

True, yes - it was for election of MP's, but surely the same method should be used for any election.

good-gosh wrote:

cantthinkofone wrote:

good-gosh wrote:
The ballot asks for two votes – first and second preferences. There was a referendum only last May that rejected alternative voting methods in favour of keeping the single vote method. How come the organisers can ignore that referendum and ask for two votes?

Because that referendum was about election for a completely different thing?

True, yes - it was for election of MP's, but surely the same method should be used for any election.

Not how it works though. I can't swear to this, but IIRC various systems of PR have been used in some areas for things such as local elections for many years.

As it goes, PR is a very good idea. But the referendum didn't offer PR, it offered AV+. It offered a b*astardised version that combined the worst of both world's, and was rightly rejected for it.

Essentially, Clegg ruined the only chance we'll have for much needed electoral reform for at least a generation. Just one more reason to string the duplicitous sumbag up.

PCCs - yet another brilliant idea from across the Pond .... in practice to politicise future appointments of Chief Constables, add £80 million to the national bill without any test of effectiveness. Little or no information as to how our new PCCs will consult us or keep us informed on our crime, etc. management needs during their periods of office. Another ill-thought-through Government bodge up!

As for the Hampshire candidates, I wonder whether Mr Mates was asked about the watch he reportedly gave to Asil Nadir (famous Polly Peck fraudster just jailed) inscribed "Don't let the bxggers get you down" made reference to the Met. Police and the SFO? If so; seems a great start for a candidate representing our interests managing a £multi=million Police budget!

Hampshire Police are doing a good job under Alex Marshall (pity he's leaving). Crime figures have reduced significantly .... even though I can no longer drop into the local police station (which I rarely did anyway!) and now have to resort to 101 or (eg Stockbridge Fire Station) visit a multi-use location; saving you and me loads-o-money!

I too haven't received any information through my letter box although the Government has spent £-thousands on TV adverts exhorting me to vote on 15 November when it will no doubt be cold and wet!

Hey, ho!

I don’t know where you get your statement that crime has reduced significantly, Hampshire has always been a low crime county (mainly rural no major inner cities), the only significant crime stats I see are a drop in violent crime towards the end of this year, and a continual rise in anti social behaviour throughout the year. This alongside complaints against Hants Constabulary dropped 43% last year but this year have risen 26%, the largest rise amongst all 44 forces (our neighbouring counties have seen a drop in complaints).
The crime stats can be seen here.
http://www.ukcrimest
ats.com/Police_Force
/Hampshire_Constabul
ary

I hear you re the closing of local Police stations. You may be interested to note that the independent candidate Don Jerrard is campaigning for local Police stations to remain open. I think there are many of us that want to see Police presence in our community out of their cars and walking the beat. Surely having local cop-shops means faster response time, better communication and continual positive community presence?

I am not surprised we don’t see explanatory leaflets drop through our doors, this is a major cost. The independents already had to raise five thousand pounds to become a candidate, thus leaving this commissioner competition only openly affordable for those supported by the main parties – the exact opposite of what Cameron said he intended when this was proposed – i.e. that this position should be non political. The only real place to get the info you want is here http://www.choosemyp

cc.org.uk/ which doesn’t help the thousands of people who have an interest but no access to a computer does it. Role on the low vote turnout, it wont be a surprise will it.

For those of you that have been asking ‘when or where can I watch the Hampshire Police and Crime Commissioner debate that was recently held at Winchester University’, it has now been downloaded to youtube here …
http://www.youtube.c
om/watch?feature=pla
yer_embedded&v=ZJADc
7LO-hc#!

links don't seem to work on the Daily Echo responses, to watch the video of the debate - simply copy and past that link from my last posting into the address bar of your browser and press return - that will take you straight to and open the video, thanks.

Bar Hayes and Jerrard they all appear to be career politicians or councillors with little or no experience of policing or law.

Looks a very straight forward choice between Hayes and Jerrard.

But how many people will even read about them to know?

That's a good point! I managed to meet Mr Jarrard (but unfortunately not Mr Hayes) at the Winchester meeting as he stayed behind to talk to attendees and students, so I went and said hello. I found him personable, intelligent and ‘straight up’, a typical ex legal type, man of few but weighty words. He gave me his manifesto which makes sense – would you believe it states he wont even be drawing the £85k wage, and in fact will be sending it to charity! So he’s not in it for political party or the money, a rare find. If you want to find out more about him his website is here http://www.jacparty.
org.uk/ (fyi – I’ve never met this guy before – shame the others didn’t hang around for lobby questions afterwards)