Peter Jones has little doubt what Sussex needs to reduce crime. "We need to give a boot up the backside of the CPS [Crown Prosecution Service] and get more people before the courts – they can be so risk-averse it's mind-boggling. It infuriates the public and infuriates the coppers who work their backsides off that the CPS sometimes cannot be bothered to push forward cases."
Jones, the leader of East Sussex county council, hopes he is not merely engaged in wishful thinking. The Birmingham-born politician is outlining what he wants to do if he becomes the county's first police and crime commissioner.
Jones is one of the Conservative hopefuls running for a position that some insist is significantly more powerful than that of MPs and most ministers. In as little as 120 days the Sussex electorate will join the rest of the country and vote for an individual who will acquire a mandate to organise the police budget, prioritise resources and hire and fire chief constables. Jones, from Hastings, is particularly excited about the position's co-ordinating role and is presiding over a slick campaign – "Vote PJ" – to ensure he fulfils his crime-fighting ambitions. Sussex is likely to see more offenders in prison should Vote PJ gain traction.
The one sticking point that worries even those going for the job is the apparent loss of interest by the government in what was touted as one of David Cameron's flagship policies and one of the most important police reforms of recent years.
In Haywards Heath, close to the geographic centre of Sussex, public apathy towards the role of commissioner is overwhelming. "I haven't heard of any of them," said Brenda Griffin, 65, when shown a list of the candidates on the Sussex shortlist. Not one of 30 people asked on the town's main artery, South Road, recognised a single candidate. Nine out of 10 people were unfamiliar with the profound changes to policing that will shortly take place.
Anthony Kimber, a 65-year-old retired army officer from Rye, is also in the running, but perturbed by the apparent lack of government input. "The problem is that the government has become involved in other policing issues, this has slipped onto the back burner.
"The government has not allocated any money upfront. It's offered a website and I do tweeting [118 followers at the time of writing] but there is not a lot of publicity. I know party members who have not been officially told of my candidacy, which is disappointing."
Nonetheless Kimber has set out a detailed manifesto for his plans as commissioner. Anyone in Sussex guilty of antisocial behaviour should, he warns, watch out. His priority is creating an intelligence base of all incidents and people involved in low-level crime and disturbances.
"I would take the sort of approach seen in New York and California, really focus effort and intelligence on the problem, work out whether it's troublesome families the government is talking about or if it's mobile groups of youngsters. I believe that with serious effort and a targeted approach we would get to the bottom of it: who the culprits are, where they do it, and why they do it."
Kimber talks enthusiastically about landing the £85,000-a-year job and working with the current chief constable and community partnerships to eradicate antisocial behaviour throughout the county's 4,000 square kilometres.
There are at least 10 candidates vying for the role. Sussex has produced more Tory candidates than almost anywhere else (six) and a Conservative commissioner is favourite to prevail as voting patterns are predicted to reflect party lines. All must outline how they will revolutionise a police service that must lay off 1,050 staff and make savings of £50m over the next three years.
Another Tory candidate is a successful Arundel businessman and local councillor, Paul Dendle, who perhaps controversially seeks a moratorium on the government's steps towards privatising police roles. "You should delay privatisation until you reform and reduce inefficiency, otherwise you are locking in inefficiency for the length of the contract, which is a waste of public money. A lot of private companies are rubbing their hands because they know how inefficient it is," says Dendle, whose website features police minister Nick Herbert on the streets of Sussex.
Dendle's big idea is "lean systems thinking" based on the Toyota car production model in Japan, which involves asking frontline workers for their input to boost morale and improve efficiency.
Other Tory candidates include the director of a funeral firm, a former Metropolitan police chief inspector whose attempt to become Britain's first Chinese MP failed during the last elections, and the only woman candidate – district councillor and entrepreneur Katy Bourne, who chairs the Conservative Women's Organisation.
Labour is fielding two hopefuls, with the preferred candidate unveiled on Monday following a ballot by party members. Hastings councillor Godfrey Daniel is pledging to tackle antisocial behaviour, hate crime and domestic violence.
He, too, is worried that the process could be undermined by apathy. "Low public engagement is a worry. It's important that people know what they are going to vote for, otherwise the elected candidate could be quite scary."
Daniel is competing against Paul Richards, 44, of Eastbourne, a special adviser to two Labour cabinet ministers who has twice unsuccessfully stood for parliament and is the author of How to Win an Election. All have their work cut out if they want to fire the imagination of the Sussex public.
"I'll vote for anyone who lowers my council tax," said one Haywards Heath mother, unaware that tax is one of the powers that will elude the incumbent. Nicola Smith, 74, who has lived in the town for 35 years, wanted to see a detailed CV of all hopefuls before she even considered choosing.
Next month, Sussex Conservative party members will meet to choose their preferred candidate. They must hope the electorate match their enthusiasm.
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
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