Police Commissioner election.
- 26 October 2012 09:30197765From #70
" experts have predicted that fewer than one in five will turn out to vote"
The Home Sec...
""The Police and crime commissioner will for the first time have a democratic mandate from the people to do this.""
This surely is the main problem?Ignorance is bliss, bliss is happiness, I am happy...to draw your attention to the possible connectivity in the foregoing. - 29 October 2012 20:21198437"Police commissioner election ballots reprinted after Home Office blunder"
"Emergency legislation is being rushed through the Commons this week to correct a Home Office blunder over next month's police and crime commissioner elections that could cost up to £350,000.
The unexpected bill is to cover the cost of printing a second set of ballot papers in Wales where an official oversight led to legislation originally being passed that only authorised the printing of an English version of the ballot paper.
Returning officers in Wales are under a duty to ensure that the Welsh language is given equal status to English. They have put in place contingency plans to print bilingual ballot papers in Welsh and English for the first poll to elect police commissioners on 15 November.
But unless peers and MPs pass emergency secondary legislation by this Wednesday the bilingual ballot papers will have to be scrapped. The Home Office, which is to foot the bill, has confirmed that the cost will be up to £350,000."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/oct/29/police-commissioner-election-ballots-blunderIgnorance is bliss, bliss is happiness, I am happy...to draw your attention to the possible connectivity in the foregoing. - 29 October 2012 21:13198448What a wast of funding,for a job that is not needed,and the public will show that in the numbers that turn out to vote,it will be less then15% over the Uk ,so the wrong ones will get the job,wait and see,+ partys will have their own members in place.
- 31 October 2012 11:37198688Further, publicly expressed thoughts...
" SIR - In Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, the police and crime commissioner will represent 14 authorities, three unitary and 11 district councils - a far bigger area than, for example, one MP covers.
Few candidates, without the support of an organisation such as a political party, could succeed in a campaign. Labour is also assisting with the £5,000 deposits.
The candidates in my area are predominately political. The concept of "a big local person for a big local job" begins to fade. There are no candidates from the Isle of Wight, the largest parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom.
Malcolm Blunn
Shorwell, Isle of Wight
SIR - A time-honoured value of the police is to work for the people, not out of political loyalty. To elect a party-political candidate to oversee them as a police commissioner undermines this.
Therefore I won't be voting, although I do understand that I run the risk of seeing the acceptance of an ill-thought-out process.
John Tate
Shrewsbury
SIR - In their enthusiasm to change policing, it is to be hoped that new police commissioners are aware of the 1968 case when Raymond Blackburn MP sought to compel the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis - the head of the Metropolitan Police - to enforce gaming laws.
The Queen's Bench ruled: "No minister of the Crown can tell the Commissioner that he must, or must not, keep observation on this place or that, or that he must or must not prosecute this man or that one. Nor can any police authority tell him to do so. The responsibility for law enforcement lies on him. He is answerable to the law and the law alone."
This case is cited whenever a minister or police authority attempts to direct the operations of any chief officer of police.
Graham Ison
Alton, Hampshire
SIR - Bad or incompetent chief constables can be sacked or removed from office. What recourse does the public have with a fixed-term elected police commissioner?
Peter Parfitt-King
Eastbourne, East Sussex
SIR - I wonder what the public response would be if judges had to stand for election every five years, based upon their record. There surely could be little objection to having a democratic right to influence sentencing policy, which often seems to fall far short of what many people would regard as "fitting the crime".
Neil Russell
Cosham, Hampshire
SIR - A low turnout is expected for these elections. I can see many of those elected having the "first choice" support of less than 10 per cent of the electorate. Do we call this democracy?
John Gould
East Horsley, Surrey "
And other letters on other matters of concern to the population...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/letters/9643760/A-dearth-of-big-local-people-to-serve-as-police-and-crime-commissioners.htmlIgnorance is bliss, bliss is happiness, I am happy...to draw your attention to the possible connectivity in the foregoing. - 31 October 2012 21:02198768more fun in the race for the job that everyone wants but no-one wants to vote for.
http://www.kentonline.co.uk/kentonline/news/2012/october/31/police_legal_row.aspx - 31 October 2012 21:13198773"Mr Uncles said he would be contesting the legal action and denied any wrongdoing.
"I do not think there is any place for litigation in the election campaign," he said."
Ve vill ask de kvestions! ?Ignorance is bliss, bliss is happiness, I am happy...to draw your attention to the possible connectivity in the foregoing. - 31 October 2012 21:19198774Ihave had words about this vote to 20members of the public over two days,and none are voting.Thats 22 with us
- 31 October 2012 21:50198780Far be it for me to imagine that I have the least right to expect anybody to do as I advise, I instruct or 'order' them to do. Further, I am also well aware, (having watched many episodes of 'The Simpsons'), of such a thing as "Reverse Psychology" and refuse to utilise it's dark-arts. Neither do I resort to shaming anybody into doing that which they do not formulate themselves, a la 'Back To The Future' with it's "Chicken!" goading.
So...
From me, safe you are. As Yoda might have said.
From me, that is.
Consider this, only if you so wish.
"What Is Aversion Therapy?
Answer:
Aversion therapy is a form of treatment that utilizes behavioural principles to eliminate unwanted behaviour. In this therapeutic method, the unwanted stimulus is repeatedly paired with discomfort. The goal of the conditioning process is to make the individual associate the stimulus with unpleasant or uncomfortable sensations.
During aversion therapy, the client may be asked to think of or engage in the behaviour they enjoy while at the same time being exposed to something unpleasant such as a bad taste, a foul smell or even mild electric shocks. Once the unpleasant feelings become associated with the behaviour, the hope is that the unwanted behaviours or actions will begin to decrease in frequency or stop entirely "
How might the above excerpt read if 'client' was exchanged with 'voter'?Ignorance is bliss, bliss is happiness, I am happy...to draw your attention to the possible connectivity in the foregoing. - 31 October 2012 22:12198784I feel ever so slightly guilty of causing discomfort. In that here I am going on and on about an election in which I shall play no part. Funnily enough, in the past few seconds I have read an email about an election taking place next Tuesday in which neither me nor you will play any part. Although it is true to say that both the election next Tuesday and the one taking place soon in your neighbourhood, shall affect all of us and me respectively.
"Do you realize that there are 90 million people who are planning to NOT vote next Tuesday? That's according to a poll conducted by USA Today. 90,000,000!! It's a shocking number, isn't it? In the old days we'd just label these people as apathetic or stupid. Not anymore. They don't need our admonition - they need our empathy.
The non-voter today knows exactly what's going on, and he or she wants no part of it. They are discouraged, disillusioned, and have almost lost hope that things will change. Many are jobless or working for peanuts. They're angry, and we should tell them they have every right to be. "
From Michael Moore...
http://www.michaelmoore.com/Ignorance is bliss, bliss is happiness, I am happy...to draw your attention to the possible connectivity in the foregoing. - 1 November 2012 09:51198845[I have put my soul-searching behind me.]
"The Conservative hopeful for the Police and Crime Commissioner election has said he is 'angry' at the failure of Labour to adequately check the credentials of its candidate.
Lee Barron was suspended by Labour yesterday afternoon after it emerged he was arrested 22 years ago for a minor disturbance at a town centre pub and fined £20.
Labour have now withdrawn their support for him and Mr Barron will be unable to be elected. However, as this has all come to light after the deadline for withdrawals, there remains the possibility that Lee Barron's name could still appear on ballot papers, plunging the election into chaos..."
From...
http://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/news/crime/rivals-offer-sympathy-over-lee-barron-s-departure-from-commissioner-race-1-4429575Ignorance is bliss, bliss is happiness, I am happy...to draw your attention to the possible connectivity in the foregoing. - 7 November 2012 10:24200043Yet more grist to the mill...
From,
"John Harris is quite right about the farce of voting for a police commissioner (Why I'll spoil my ballot, 6 November). I still don't know who the candidates are, although I rang the helpline at least three weeks ago asking for details. I was invited to do this by an "information" leaflet posted to me. It did say I will have a first and second choice. No mention, though, of how the voting system works. What if there are more than two candidates? And what exactly is it all for anyway? The county police authorities, made up of elected local authority members, are being disbanded. Their job was to monitor the local police force, set the budget and, if necessary, sack the chief constable. In the future, elected local authority members will sit on a "police and crime panel" to monitor the new commissioner. If the panel doesn't like what the commissioner does, it will have a veto, including of his or her choice of a chief constable. So what's the point of having a commissioner, who will take a high salary, no doubt with expenses. What was that about fooling the people...
Penny Young
South Lopham, Norfolk"
To,
"Won't spoilt ballots just add numbers to the turnout? So maybe Ian Blair's boycott is the right response?
Mick Farley
Burton in Kendal, Cumbria"
And a few more, plus live links to articles mentioned...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/nov/06/x-factor-police-chief-polls
As you may be aware, Ian Blair's notion of not turning out is, in my opinion, the wrong thing to do to signify that we are a Democracy at all and lets the proposers of this rot off the hook.Ignorance is bliss, bliss is happiness, I am happy...to draw your attention to the possible connectivity in the foregoing. - 7 November 2012 10:48200049I have voted, using my postal vote so judging by the response on here my vote will win it
Audere est facere. - 7 November 2012 11:23200062I hope you get the job.£100.000year
- Jan Higgins
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,895
7 November 2012 12:29200075Martin, I succumbed and posted mine yesterday so either we agree or my vote cancels yours.
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
------------------------------------------------------------------- - 7 November 2012 12:45200076Vic I would love to take the job but I am not taking a wage reduction for anybody ;) Jan then it will be down to our second choices, all will become clear soonAudere est facere.
- Jan Higgins
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,895
7 November 2012 13:09200079I did not bother with my second choice it was hard enough deciding on one.-----------------------------------------------------------------------
I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
------------------------------------------------------------------- - 7 November 2012 18:18200147Mr Martin love that one. As I said we will be giving this one a miss,it will end up being a party post,just wait and see after afew weeks
- 9 November 2012 10:09200447another development in this sorry saga.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/commissioner-candidate-mates-placed-under-police-investigation-8298638.html - 12 November 2012 10:11200909Major flaws in police commissioner polls
"Your article on the lack of information to voters in the police and crime commissioner elections (Helpline for would-be voters is useless, claims whistleblower, 9 November) highlights significant flaws in the process. Your report quotes ministers confirming that the cost of conducting them will be £75m but claiming that providing information about candidates to voters would have cost an additional £35m. This is not so. In a written parliamentary answer to me in March, Lord Henley confirmed that the cost of providing a booklet of election addresses to every elector (as in mayoral elections) would be approximately £12m.
The cost of producing such a booklet in unaddressed format and delivered to every household would have been substantially less. If a claim about the merits of democratic elections is to be made, all voters should have access to information about candidates. The government has not satisfactorily explained why such information should be made available about mayoral candidates (as in Bristol this Thursday) but not for those seeking to be police and crime commissioners.
Chris Rennard
Liberal Democrat, House of Lords
In the police commissioner elections, enormous power is being placed in the hands of individuals, with little check during their term of office. Better public accountability could have been achieved by opening up existing police authorities, where decisions are at least taken by a team with a range of viewpoints and expertise. On Thursday I will spoil my ballot paper, writing on it that "I refuse to vote for either of these candidates ... Keep party politics out of policing!"
Ruth Eagle
Crewe"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/nov/11/major-flaws-police-commissioner-polls
N.B.
Using the source allows the links to the background of the story to be 'live'.Ignorance is bliss, bliss is happiness, I am happy...to draw your attention to the possible connectivity in the foregoing. - 13 November 2012 00:13201065Why do we not simply elect chief constables from the pool of existing police talent?I'm an optimist. But I'm an optimist who takes my raincoat - Harold Wilson