Cambridgeshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner Graham Bright has today (26 February 2013) published a draft of his Police and Crime Plan for comment. This is something I and others have been suggesting the commissioner ought do for some time, given he was elected without a detailed manifesto or significant electoral mandate. Had the commissioner been [...]
The Conservative party is split on the question of council tax rises. Conservatives in central government are saying they want to see council tax kept at its current level, but locally in Cambridgeshire we’ve got a Conservative Police and Crime Commissioner and a Conservative run County Council who are proposing council tax rises. I have [...]
Cambridgeshire Police and Crime Commissioner Graham Bright Cambridgeshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner Graham Bright (Conservative) has just announced his plans to increase the policing element of council tax by 1.9% as of April this year. Mr Bright stood on a ten point manifesto, number six of which stated: Not to put any additional burden on [...]
Following the announcement of the result of the election, Cambridgeshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner elect, Graham Bright, gave a short speech. I filmed it and have produced a transcript: Thank you Mr Returning Officer. And can I thank everyone? This has been an unusual election. Having an election in November is not the very best [...]
UK Police shock a man in Nottingham with a TASER while he is lying on the ground surrounded by four officers. (More…) Police complaints ought be dealt with in a much more public manner. The substance of the complaint and details of how it was resolved need to be made public where this can be [...]
A Police and Crime Commissioner will be an elected representative who the public will have entrusted to make decisions on their behalf about policing the force area. The Commissioner will have a responsibility to consider, and give due weight to, elements of policing which the electorate may not generally give much consideration to. Even if [...]
In my view the number and severity of injuries caused by crimes and road incidents is a relatively solid statistic on which to assess police performance. If the number and severity of injuries related to for example pub and club drinking in a city centre is falling the police can be sure they’re having a [...]
Inside Cambridge Magistrates’ Court (source) Public courts are a key and essential part of our justice system and simply having the doors open is not enough; it needs to be easy to find out when cases are to be heard, and easy for what happens in courts to be publicised in accordance with the law. [...]
Police and Crime Commissioners will need to ensure that appropriate resources are made available to tackling serious crime. To often it appears that our society is harsher on an individual who steals a chocolate bar than it is on someone who has stolen millions, I think that needs to change. As with other less visible [...]
My bike locked up in Cambridge. A Police and Crime Commissioner for Cambridgeshire needs to ensure that the roads are safe for all users, particularly cyclists. A commissioner ought take a role in ensuring that new developments are cycle friendly and that our existing infrastructure is adapted to reflect the changes which accompany the expansion [...]