Shropshire Star

Star comment: Changing of guard at the polls

The noise surrounding the EU referendum has had an unfortunate side effect in that it has tended to drown out the debate on another important issue which will be determined by your votes today – the future shape of policing in Shropshire and the general West Mercia area.

Published

Whoever becomes the new Police and Crime Commissioner for West Mercia will face huge challenges and tricky decisions.

The signs are that the role is one that is expanding and developing beyond that which was sold to an apathetic public when the first election was held in November 2012. And we say apathetic, because the turnout then was a truly pathetic 14.6 per cent.

Bill Longmore, from Hanwood, made history as the first PCC for West Mercia and needed to give us all a reason to believe that the existence of the post was worthwhile. There were many chances to go wrong, but he has proved a safe pair of hands.

His has not been a spectacular reign, nor especially controversial, yet he has made the role credible, useful and relevant. And, in doing so, he has had to fight off a serious health scare.

Mr Longmore is not standing again, so we shall have a changing of the guard. There are eight candidates this time round, almost all of whom are standing under party political tickets. How many of them can you name? Probably not many. Perhaps none at all.

Apart from the din of the EU referendum debate, our readers in Wales also have the polling for the Welsh Assembly to grab their attention.

Some people who go to vote in the police elections will be in the situation of not having a clue who any of the candidates are until they see the ballot paper. That is hardly ideal in a democratic election on which so much may turn, and in which the personal qualities of the winning candidate will be so important in determining their success as a leader and a force figurehead, needing the strength of character and moral courage to hold the police to account when the occasion demands it.

There have been some tough policing choices over the past few years, but we may look back and think these were the easy times.

For the public, today's poll is an opportunity, and opportunities are not to be wasted.

Sorry, we are not accepting comments on this article.