PCC candidate hits out at Home Secretary

The Home Secretary is actively campaigning to erode the independence of the British Police, claims former Devon and Cornwall police chief Bob Spencer.

Mr Spencer, who is standing as an independent candidate in the Police and Crime Commissioner elections, has slammed Theresa May for her plans, which he claims will mean the loss of more police stations and more officers on the beat.

He said: “She is proposing to give the commissioner powers over the fire service, prisons, schools and probation.

“All this despite the advice of a Home Affairs Select Committee which claims it is too much.”

He added: “In modern Britain this cannot be right. No huge party political machine should have responsibility for the totality of policing and more."

The Home Secretary Mrs May recently came under fire from Tony Hogg, the current commissioner in Devon and Cornwall, for giving her backing to the Conservative candidate.

Mr Hogg, who was elected on a Conservative ticket and is not standing for re-election, said he soon realised that running a police force was not a party political task.

Said Mr Spencer: “I am  fearful and apprehensive at what central government is saying in relation to the Police and Crime Commissioner elections on May 5.  I don't get alarmed easily.

“They say the post will be the voice of the people - it doesn't feel like that.  They say they do not want political control of the police. It doesn't feel like that.”

“On May 5 please vote for someone independent who understands the police having worked as one. Stop this political control before it gathers so much momentum before we lose every single police station and a police officer becomes a thing of the past, like our hospital Matrons.”