Election of a Police and Crime Commissioner – Who’s Standing?

October

19

2 comments

We now know who the candidates are in Essex for the Police and Crime Commissioner in Essex on November 15th:

  • Nick Alston – Conservative (lives in Chelmsford)
  • Linda Belgrove – Independent (lives in Alresford)
  • Val Morris-Cook – Labour (lives in Thurrock)
  • Andrew Smith – UKIP (lives in Epping)
  • Mick Thwaites – Independent (lives in Shoeburyness)
  • Robin Tilbrook – English Democrats (Lives in Willingale)

  • You will notice there isn’t a Lib Dem candidate standing in Essex, and there are several reasons for this.

    Whoever wins this election will have a significant job to do, which needs particular skills and really some good background knowledge on policing. In some parts of England we are fielding a candidate where the local Lib Dems think they are the best person for the job. But many of us aren’t convinced that party politics are the best way to approach these elections, and we don’t have a candidate in Essex. You may see individual Lib Dems publicly supporting one of the independent candidates….

    About the author, admin

  • I would appreciate if the Crime Commissioner Candidates could provide answers to the following questions which will have an influence on who I vote for at the forthcoming Crime Commissioner election.

    1/ Do you welcome the Protection of Freedom Act

    2/ Do you support me in calling for the destruction of DNA, fingerprints, mug shots, PNC records of persons who have received either a minor conviction, a caution, a warning, a reprimand, at present this data can be retained indefinitely by the Chief Constable, but he has the discretion to delete such data and records as data owner.

    3/ Do you support me in calling for time limits for the retention of DNA, fingerprints, mug shots, PNC records held by the police for persons who have received a minor conviction, a caution, a reprimand, a warning.

    4/ Do you support me in the view that minor conviction, caution, warning and reprimand police records, DNA, fingerprint, PNC recorded data should be removed after a certain period of time and not retained indefinitely.

    5/ When would you like to see the removal of DNA, fingerprint, PNC records from police databases of (1) innocent people (2) minor conviction, (3) caution, (4) reprimands and warnings.

    6/ New police guidance will be written to require the removal of records of arrest for innocent people from the Police National Computer (PNC). How will you as a Crime Commissioner hold the Chief Constable to account for implementation of this new guidance.

    There needs to be an appropriate balance between crime detection, human rights and privacy, I believe there should be a policy of time limits on the retention of people’s DNA profiles on the Database, related to the seriousness of the offence and whether a person has been convicted (similar to the original policy adopted when the Database was set up in 1995). A policy on retention would limit the potential for future governments to misuse the data to restrict people’s rights and freedoms.

    May I point out

    1/ it is not illegal for the Chief Constable to delete minor police records, he has a right to do so as data owner.
    2/ the Home Office dose not compel Chief Constables to indefinitely retain police records.
    3/ The Bichard enquiry did not recommend that police records be retained indefinitely.
    4/ ACPO (association of chief police officers) only produce guidelines (NOT LAW) concerning retention and deletion of police records for Chief Constables.
    5/ in 2009 the information commission ruled that permanent retention of minor police records was unlawful, this was over turned by the high court BUT the findings and conclusions of the IC still stand.

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