Douglas Carswell's Blog

Fancy being the local Police and Crime Commissioner?

Perhaps you believe that the police need to do more to tackle drunken disorder in your local high street? Or maybe you would like them to take property crimes more seriously? In ten months time, you have the chance to do something about it. 

This November, local people will be able to directly elect a single individual as their new Police and Crime Commissioner to oversee the police force where they live (apart from London, where the mayor assumes the role).

These new PCCs - or Sheriffs, as I prefer to think of them - will run local policing, setting the local constabulary’s priorities, holding the Chief Constable to account and ensuring the police answer directly to the law-abiding public. 

It is ten years since I first published a policy paper calling for this change, and eight years since the Conservative Policy Unit hired me to flesh out the idea.  I'm thrilled to see this proposal come to fruition.

To work, we need to have the right kind of candidates come forward – not just party apparatchiks. We need independent-minded candidates – or perhaps even independents with no party affiliation. 

I am confident that the Conservatives will have in place an open selection process that allows local people to select a Conservative-backed candidate from a short list that will consist of both party candidates - and any suitable independents. 

In other words, you should not have to be "a politician" to get the party behind your candidacy.    

So why not register your details here, if you are interested?   

If you are reading this and think you might have what it takes to be the PCC where you live, why not put your name forward? Rudy Giuliani, the man who got a grip of New York's runaway crime, had to start somewhere.  Here are more details about the role. 

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