PROFILES: Who is standing in the 2016 North Yorkshire PCC elections?

Police and crime commissioners (PCCs) are elected by you to oversee how crime is tackled in your police force area. Their aim is to cut crime and to ensure your police force is effective.

Visit www.aboutmyvote.co.uk for more information about the North Yorkshire PCC election on May 5 and https://www.choosemypcc.org.uk/area/north-yorkshire for more information on the candidates.

Independent candidate Mike Pannett is a Yorkshire born author and former police officer. He believes that a PCC should be independent and unencumbered by any political allegiances or obligations.

“It was with trepidation that I’ve stepped into this arena but after observing how some party politicians were damaging policing I felt compelled to stand.

“I believe many PCCs have failed pitifully in their core responsibility to represent local people.

“For many it’s been a rocky road littered with complaints, strained professional relationships and financial gaffes which in my view has not only undermined the public perception of PCCs but sadly and collaterally, also the police.

“Some have been a real tonic to policing with commendable work done at national levels inevitably receiving far less media attention.

“I didn’t stand originally, to be honest I didn’t know how the role would pan out or even survive.

“Now for four years we’ve seen a flawed mantra peddled that falling crime justifies losing 19,000 police officers and thousands of support staff.

“Cuts have been implemented by PCC’s with no clue about policing or simple cause and effect while pontificating about ‘efficiency’ and ‘more for less’ while ignoring the bitter truth that policing was being damaged, safeguarding was suffering and criminals were thriving - that’s my reason for standing as an Independent.

“A member of the public recently summed it up perfectly they said “when you see a police officer in the street you don’t expect them to represent a political party, we should have the same expectation of a Police and Crime Commissioner”, no argument from me there.”

Conservative candidate Julia Mulligan will be seeking a second term as Police and Crime Commissioner. She is the first person to hold the post and was elected on November 15, 2012.

“Policing is changing. The next four years will be vital and we need an experienced PCC with a track record of fighting our corner, as well as delivering improvements locally.

“My priorities are:

Boost the frontline – following the announcement to protect police budgets, I will increase officer numbers to 1,400 and PCSOs to 200.

Protecting vulnerable people – as well as £3.2m to better protect vulnerable people including children, older people and victims of abuse, I will ring-fence £600,000 for mental health crisis care to support people in contact with the police.

Support for rural communities – I will roll out ‘Community Speed Watch’ in villages and communities wishing to participate. I will support the new Rural Crime Task Force and increase collaboration to better tackle serious and cross-border crime.

Protecting services via blue-light collaboration – this is common sense. I will share more buildings, back-office administration and governance, to save money and help protect frontline services in local communities.

Improve the ‘101’ service – following my independent review, I will upgrade phones and IT, so you can get hold of people better and improve access to local police by putting contact details on a new police website.