On Thursday (May 6) residents will go to the polls to vote in county council elections, district and town by-elections and to vote on the Broadstairs Neighbourhood Planning Referendum.
In addition, polls will be open to vote for the Kent Police and Crime Commissioner role.
Police and crime commissioners are elected by the public to ensure the policing needs of communities are met as effectively as possible and to oversee how crime is tackled in their police force area.
The candidates for Kent introduce themselves here:
Matthew Scott
As your local Police & Crime Commissioner, my focus has always been on making Kent safer.
I have recruited 665 more Police and 50 more PCSOs. As a result, crime has been falling. This includes reductions in burglary, knife crime and antisocial behaviour. Drugs gangs have been shut down. More offenders are being charged and brought to justice. And there has been substantial investment in resources to tackle violence.
I want to do more to tackle crime and antisocial behaviour. So I will:
Recruit another 300 Police Officers and ensure they are active in our urban, rural and coastal areas
Work with residents, businesses and communities to prevent and reduce crime and antisocial behaviour
Expand the popular Police Cadets scheme for young people and bring back teams of Schools Officers
Make our streets safer for all road users
Boost the support available for all victims of crime and abuse
Tackle gangs and county lines and get drugs and weapons off our streets
I live in the county with my wife and two children. From a policing family, I understand what Officers and Staff need – and having run a community association, served as a School Governor and been an active local councillor, I have the experience of speaking up for neighbourhoods and delivering improvements.
I am a successful mental health campaigner. I advise the Government on issues relating to mental health and policing and have secured changes in the law that will better support those living with mental health conditions.
I also have experience of setting up a business and am the Chairman of a national company.
Graham David Colley
President of Liberal Democrat Lawyers and studied Law at Aberystwyth and European Law at the College of Europe. MBA from City University Business School and a research degree in Banking Reform at the University of Kent.
Graham worked in the City and has been a Legal Aid lawyer in Lambeth, Westminster, and Chatham.
Parliamentary candidate for Mid-Kent (twice) and for Rochester & Strood in the 2019 General Election. He is a former Kent County Councillor and co-chair of the Kent Fire & Public Protection committee.
Has lived in Maidstone and Lenham and now lives in Rochester, with two cats, Schnapps & Crackers
What Graham is standing for:
Neighbourhood Policing – from the ground up, not the top down.
Looking for radical solutions – tackling the root of the problems that face our police.
Seeking efficiency but caring for the police force who serve us.
Graham believes:
Crime policy must be based on the evidence of what works.
Strengthening neighbourhood policing as a local policing presence gives people confidence that their safety is being cared for.
More preventative work is required, particularly through joined-up working with other public services.
Too many victims of crime still have a negative experience in the system.
Too many criminals are not required to confront their behaviour.
More action is required to tackle violence against women and girls.
Too few prisoners receive effective pre-release support and re-offending rates remain unacceptably high.
A new preventative, health-based approach is required to tackle drug and alcohol misuse.
Stop and Search remains a source of deep mistrust between the police and the public.
Kent Police have a large budget, and the PCC must be vigilant to ensure that it is well spent.
Lola Oyewusi
This election is a choice between Lola Oyewusi, the Labour and Co-operative candidate who is serious about tackling the Tory rise in violent crime or the Conservatives who have slashed police numbers and let violent crime rise here in Kent and across the country.
As someone with strong experience working for a housing association, leading a local charity, serving on her local parish council and being active within her church – Lola has the life experiences to ensure the concerns of residents across Kent are at the heart of policing and community safety.
Labour’s top priority is to keep you, your family and your community safe. Every day our Police and Crime Commissioners work hard to drive down crime and antisocial behaviour, tackle its root causes and ensure that criminals are brought to justice. They also ensure that their local police are effective, efficient and accountable.
Lola has five clear pledges
Tackling knife crime and county lines
Getting the resources Kent needs
Supporting the Chief Constable with a constructive but independent relationship
Supporting rural and coastal communities
Creating a police force for all
The Conservative party are toughening up sentences for people who attack statues but have done nothing to increase sentences for men who attack women. Labour will toughen sentences for rapists and end the injustice which means someone can get ten years less for murdering their partner at home, than for murdering someone on the street.
If she is elected, Lola will always be on the side of victims and the voice for the voiceless across Kent.
Bit late giving us their gen now, especially for postal voters !! Don’t know any of them. Same with other council candidates… I’ve only had one leaflet, no idea who or what they stand for ( I did look one line, couldn’t find a thing ) no wonder people don’t vote. It’s seems a case of close your eyes and stick a pin in the names !!!
Yes, seems strange to be putting out your manifestos 24 hours before voting day. As a reminder today great, but shouldn’t this have been out there at least a month ago?
so true – the only time you hear anything from these people including the councilors is when they are after your vote , then they just vanish into the background and trouser the cash
None of them mentioned enforcing the Animal Welfare Act, 2006! This law is deeply flawed and relies on a charity, the RSPCA to enforce it! The RSPCA have limited resources, and are only dealing with cases in an emergency, and even them they may NOT prosecute! This is a local authority or police matter, as LA’s are able to employ Animal Inspectors and enforce the Act, but few if any have them! TDC doesn’t, so it comes down to the police to enforce the Act, but do they? I wrote to the present Kent Police & Crime Commissioner Mathew Scott, saying no Statutory agency is enforcing the Animal Welfare Act, which means animal ill treatment is being carried out with impunity, and asking him if he would ensure the Police take action? Zilch was the reply, so far!
Exactly the same for us, the only communication we received was for a Green Party candidate for another part of town.
Rather too late today to assess anybody’s suitability for council or PCC!
No surprise that the incumbent Tory has pretty much zero interest in trying to stop people committing crime in the first place. The Labour candidate mentions it-but like Scott pushes the tabloid headline vote winning tough on crime mantra more. But the Lib Dem candidate is the one who actually wants to change the system that has failed for decades to rehabilitate vast swathes of people.
Much like the drug laws it is about what appeals to certain sections of society most likely to vote for your party, not on actual evidence & trying to change something that never has, doesn’t & never will work for the better.
I have found the call takers at Kent police to be very patronising and disbelieving example 1. “ There are nine black men jumping out of a back of a truck” Kent police call taker replied ( Sorry caller this line is for emergency only phone calls phone your nearest police station) I replied “ if you don’t care I don’t.” 2, There is a man trying to break into a car.
KP ( How do you know he is trying to get into the car, do you know the man if he has lost his keys) I replied I’m not thick it’s 3 am and he is breaking into the car and now inside it send the police” result Man arrested. 3. “There is a person at work who is glad of 9/11 happened and “ looks forward to the next event”. KP ( are you sure you have not falling out with a colleague at work and trying to get them in trouble!!!) No action taken by Kent police so I reported the person to the anti terrorists officers in London who were very interested in what I had to tell them and they took a full statement over the phone and thanked me. Two days later they contacted me to thank me for “ your valuable information” These events happened over the years but it just goes to show the attitude of the police call takers.
Waste of space and money esp Scott who has done nothing to expose kent police corruption.
Is Scott a Conservative? Odd that he neglects to mention this in his pitch. Probably doesn’t want to be associated with years of Tory police cuts.
Mr Scott a Conservative?
In that case I’m definitely voting for him!
Elections when ?
I havent had anything thought my door or anyone knock on my door.
So today is election day but no party has campaigned very odd.
If Scott is a Tory he should declare it.
without a substantial increase in the police budget, The new commissioner in reality is just a new team leader of Titanic deckchair arrangers.
Seen it all before. others will have different opinions,
I have read with interest what previous commenters have said and am very much in agreement. How can we be expected to vote for anyone who is completely unknown to us? For reasons that I fail to understand, there has been no dissemination of literature which would inform us who the candidate is, what (s)he has achieved and what s(he) stands for. Surely only a donkey would vote blind?
However, one person I would definitely NOT vote for is the present PCC incumbent. Some time ago, I wrote to him complaining about a bungled operation carried out by the local police in my neighbourhood. This operation involved FIREARMS which were subsequently proved to be LOADED and therefore ready to be used. Mr Scott replied to my detailed several-hundred word letter with a terse comment that he “could not involve himself in operational matters”. What’s he for then? I don’t know the answer to that, except that I’ve seen him on TV clips opening a school, or commenting on this-or-inconsequential-that, but when I checked, about three years ago his salary was £80k, and his retinue of about 15 support workers (one of whose salary was even more inflated than his) plus premises, plus materials, plus pensions must offer little change to the hardworking taxpayers of Kent from say £2 million! As a postscript, the matter was passed down to an acting Chief Inspector, who replied to me, with corresponding brevity, that “at no time was any member of the public in danger”. Wow!!
Not only this, but nowadays I am forever asking myself – not what is the PCC for – but what are the police for? They seem totally uninterested in everyday crime. One can virtually solve the crime for them and then hand them the evidence, but they just don’t want to know. Forget for a moment their efforts regarding recent high-profile murders (at least they show that we do still have police in Kent) the everyday lesser crimes are the ones that most people want to be dealt with – but the police aren’t interested. I don’t know exactly what they do spend their time on – poring over thought-crimes on the internet maybe, or making sure no-one has been indulging in too little political correctness, but it certainly isn’t policing of the form that makes a difference – or is what society really needs. I could give a list as long as your arm of cases that the police have fluffed, or simply haven’t bothered to tackle, but I just haven’t time.
Yes, what are the police FOR!!
Tl;dr…