Police Commissioner Candidates Confirmed

Published on: 8 Apr, 2024
Updated on: 10 Apr, 2024

Four candidates are standing in the Surrey Police and Crime Commissioner election on Thursday, May 2. They are:

Kate Chinn, Labour Party
Alex Foy Coley, Independent
Paul Kennedy, Liberal Democrat
Lisa Townsend, Conservative Candidate

PCC Candidates 2024: Left to right, Kate Chinn, Alex Coley, Paul Kennedy and Lisa Townsend

More information on each candidate will be available on the website www.choosemypcc.org.uk from around 10 April, including candidate photos and campaign statements.

The Guildford Dragon NEWS is also inviting the four candidates to be interviewed.

Police and Crime Commissioners are elected every four years, and this is the fourth time Surrey residents will go to the polling stations to vote for their Police and Crime Commissioner since the role was introduced across England and Wales in 2012.

Mari Roberts-Wood, Managing Director at Reigate & Banstead Borough Council, is the Police Area Returning Officer (PARO) responsible for the PCC elections in Surrey this time, including ensuring they are run and promoted consistently across the county.

Mari Roberts-Wood said: “I’d like to encourage everyone to check out the candidates on the website choosemypcc.org.uk where you can learn why they want to be Surrey’s next Police and Crime Commissioner. The elections on 2 May are an important opportunity to have a say on who represents you on issues in your local area.”

Five key responsibilities of the Commissioner

To hold the police to account on behalf of the public, including holding the Chief Constable to account for Force performance. This is done through regular internal discussions as well as public performance meetings. It also includes the power to appoint or remove the Chief Constable when necessary
To provide a link between the police and Surrey residents. This includes listening to feedback from the public on policing and crime reduction and pursuing improvements that can be made by or in partnership with Surrey Police
To set the strategic direction and aims for Surrey Police through the Police and Crime Plan, and to propose the amount of council tax that will go towards policing from Surrey residents. The successful PCC candidate will consult the public to inform the development of a new Police and Crime Plan.
To promote community safety, reduce re-offending and support victims. The Commissioner uses the majority of their budget to support services that work in partnership to achieve these aims and regularly bids for additional funding from Government that enhances this work in Surrey
To be responsible for all funding relating to policing and reducing crime and to work with the Chief Constable to set the force budget in line with priorities and deliver value for money for residents.

Local elections

On 2 May local elections also take place in six out of 11 boroughs and districts in Surrey, including Elmbridge BC, Mole Valley DC, Reigate & Banstead BC, Runnymede BC, Tandridge DC and Woking BC.

There are no scheduled local elections in Epsom & Ewell BC, Guildford BC, Spelthorne BC, Surrey Heath BC and Waverley BC, however Waverley BC has an unscheduled by-election in the Witley and Milford Borough Ward.

Responses to Police Commissioner Candidates Confirmed

Frank Emery Reply

April 8, 2024 at 7:09 pm

None of the above! Save the money and use it on something worthwhile.
Dave Middleton Reply

April 10, 2024 at 11:23 am

Before the PCCs were introduced, there was a Police Committee made up of local councillors and lay persons who oversaw the Chief Constable’s strategy and performance.

Then PCCs were introduced, replacing that committee.

Then a committee of local councillors was created to oversee the PCC and hold them to account.

Essentially an extra layer of bureaucracy was created at significant cost to the taxpayer. How about we scrap the pointless post of PCC and go back to what we had before and save the taxpayer some money?
Frank Emery Reply

April 10, 2024 at 5:44 pm

David Middleton and I are on the same page. It would be very interesting to see how many more are?
Gordon Tyerman Reply

April 15, 2024 at 12:12 pm

I agree with others. There is no need for another layer of political interference. The PCCs are not independent and should have no say in policing.

I worked with senior officers and the old police committee style of governance and it worked well. The creation of PCC’s was an utter waste of time.
Anthony Mallard Reply

April 16, 2024 at 10:06 am

Police & Crime Commissioners (PCCs) and the oversight committee are additional costly layers of unwanted political influence, particularly the former, of what should be a completely party political free police service – allowed to serve their communities without fear or favour.

One just has to look at some of the PCCs’ interventions and comments here in Surrey and elsewhere to see just how much the chief constables and their equivalent in London’s, operational independence has been eroded.
Tony Palmer Reply

April 16, 2024 at 11:20 am

I agree this has been a backward step. Local people were involved in meeting the local police team and now that interaction has gone. I don’t see anything that has replaced, yet alone improve upon, the arrangement we had.
Mike Smith Reply

April 18, 2024 at 9:06 pm

Party politics should be kept out of policing, so I’m not a fan of the major political parties getting directly involved in policing by putting up their own candidates for PCCs.
Barbara Ford Reply

April 21, 2024 at 11:20 am

Thank you Dragon and all the above correspondents. It’s really helpful to read first an unbiased description of the process and then some respectfully worded, if trenchant, opinions on the merits. This has all helped me to form my own opinion and to decide how to vote.

A refreshing, though sadly unusual, experience these days.

Thank you. Please watch out for our PCC candidate interviews which we will publish over the next four days. Ed