Police and Crime Commissioner
The Government’s Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act sets out plans to replace Police Authorities with elected Police and Crime Commissioners.
Each force area will hold elections on 15 November 2012 and a single Police and Crime Commissioner will be elected to stand for a four year term. Therefore, a single election will be held across Hertfordshire, making it the largest ever single post election held in the county.
The Commissioners main responsibilities will be:
- Setting the strategic policing priorities
- Setting the police budget
- Holding the Chief Constable to account;
- Identifying the views of Hertfordshire’s communities to set local policing priorities;
- Publish an annual report of the Constabulary’s Performance against the objectives set out in the plan.
- Appointing (and if necessary dismissing) the Chief Constable.
The Commissioner will also have extensive crime and community safety responsibilities seeking to bring together organisations that contribute to safer communities. A more comprehensive description of the Police Crime and Commissioner powers and responsibilities can be found at the web link below.
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/police/police-crime-commissioners/questions/pcc-powers/
Who can stand for Election
Who can stand for election.
Candidates must:
- be a British, Commonwealth or EU citizen
- be 18 years of age or over
- be resident in the police force area
Restrictions on candidacy include a conviction for an imprisonable offence, and being a serving civil servant, judge, police officer, member of police staff or member of a police authority or member of the regular armed forces.
The Home Office have published a outline document on role of Police and Crime Commissioners titled “Police and Crime Commissioners have you got what it takes “
Please use the link below to view this document
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/police/pcc/have-got-what-takes/got-what-it-takes
Police and Crime Panel
The Police and Crime Commissioner will be scrutinised by a Police and Crime Panel.
The Panel will consist of councillors and independent members (as a minimum: 1 from each District/Borough Council area, 1 from the County Council, and two co-opted members.)
The role of the Panel will be to scrutinise the Police and Crime Commissioner’s activities, including reviewing the police and crime plan and annual report.
The Panel will have no direct powers regarding the Constabulary, but will in a position to make any concerns public and hold the Commissioner to account for addressing them.
More information about Police and Crime Commissioners, and the Police and Crime Panel, can be found here.
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/police/police-crime-commissioners/
Hertfordshire Police Authority – Our Approach
The Police Authority will operate as normal until the Commissioner takes over in November 2012. The Authority will determine the policing priorities for the coming year; produce a Policing Plan in April 2012, set the annual budget and council tax precept in February 2012, as well as holding the Chief Constable to account for delivery of objectives in the plan.
The current Hertfordshire Policing Plan can be viewed by the link below.
http://www.hertspa.org/publications_and_reports/publications_and_reports/17224095/
We have established a Transition Board to oversee implementation of the changes arising from the Act and to enable the smooth and effective transition to new arrangements.
Information about Hertfordshire
HertfordshireCounty has a population of 1.1 million people, of which approximately 6% are from Minority Ethnic backgrounds. There are approximately 600,000 households in Hertfordshire.
Hertfordshire Constabulary is headed by Chief Constable Andy Bliss QPM. There are 2020 police officers who are supported by 253 PCSOs, 1867 staff, 413 Specials and 215 Volunteer under his direction and control.
Although the Police and Crime Commissioner will have responsibility for setting the strategic direction of policing in Hertfordshire through the Police and Crime Plan, the Chief Constable will continue to have operational responsibility for the delivery of policing in Hertfordshire on a day to day basis. The relationship between the Police and Crime Commissioner, Chief Constable, Police and Crime Panel and Home Secretary is set out in a ‘protocol’, which can be found here.
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/police/pcc/policing-protocol
Please use the following link to learn more about the Hertfordshire Constabulary including the Chief Officer Team, Organisational Chart and further information.
http://www.herts.police.uk/hertfordshire_constabulary/about_us.aspx
There are 10 Community Safety Partnerships (CSPs) within the Hertfordshire Police area. These are: Broxbourne, Dacorum, East Herts, Hertsmere, North Herts, St Albans, Stevenage, ThreeRivers, Watford and Welwyn &Hatfield.
Crime Figures and Performance in these Community Safety Partnerships can be view via the following link
http://www.herts.police.uk/hertfordshire_constabulary/about_us/crime_figures.aspx
Hertfordshire Constabulary is one of the top performing Forces in the county. For All Crime per 1000 population the Force is within the top 10 of police forces in England and Wales. Please use the following link to view the latest Home Office Police Performance Report.
The Strategic Collaboration Alliance
In December 2010 a Three-Force strategic policing alliance was created between Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Police Authorities.
The agreement of the three authorities will allow opportunities for joint working across its operational support and protective services functions to build greater efficiency, effectiveness and resilience.
This alliance builds on the existing Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Joint Collaboration Programme which over recent years has seen the development of joint functions including a Major Crime Unit, Firearms Support Unit and Dog Unit and soon the implementation of a joint ICT department.
More information about Hertfordshire’s approach to collaboration can be found here.