Hardyal Dhindsa – Derbyshire Police and Crime Commissioner
Hardyal Dhindsa – Derbyshire Police and Crime Commissioner :
A big thank you to those of you who took the time out to vote in the recent Police and Crime Commissioner election, especially to those of you who voted for the Labour candidate Hardyal Dhindsa, who was successful elected as the new Police and Crime Commissioner for Derbyshire.
As the previous deputy commissioner, Hardyal will be able to get off to a flying start working to both protect and improve our local Police service in the face of the savage cuts from the Tories in government.
Now whilst I’m obviously pleased with the result, whilst this election did not have some of the challenges that the last or first election for the Police and Crime Commissioner in November 2012 had. The issues around information to voters on who was standing and exactly what the role is still remain, with no movement on the idea of a freepost delivery (as in parliamentary elections), so at least there would be some opportunity for information on all the candidates standing to reach everyone.
The election also seemed to fail in garnering much interest from the national media, with greater importance been given to the Mayoral, Council, Scottish and Welsh elections taking place on the same day, and any regional coverage not reaching all those effected with talk and coverage on East Midlands BBC / ITV and little or no mention on the North West TV of the Derbyshire candidates.
I hope over the next term in office for the Commissioners across the country, as well as getting on with the job they need to do, the importance, implied and flagged by Government at the time of the creation of the role will have a chance to come through, along with a greater opportunity to clarify the role and how it works, because whilst the coverage over the last few years locally has been good with the Commissioner attending a wide range of events across Glossopdale, I would imagine there’s still not many clear on what the role is, who it is and what they do.