CANDIDATES FOR THE WEST YORKSHIRE POLICE FORCE AREA

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1 CANDIDATES FOR THE WEST YORKSHIRE POLICE FORCE AREA This booklet is printed on 100% recycled paper. When you have finished with this, please recycle it. This is published by: The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster for the Cabinet Office, 70 Whitehall, London SW1A 2AS On 5th May, you will be able to vote for your police and crime commissioner. Find out who your local candidates are and how to vote.

2 Contents About police and crime commissioners 02 Mark Burns-Williamson Labour Party 04 Peter Allan Gilchrist Corkindale UK Independence Party (UKIP) 06 Allan Joseph Doherty The Conservative Party Candidate 08 Barry Stewart Golton Liberal Democrats 10 Therese Hirst English Democrats More Police catching criminals! 12 Statement by the Police Area Returning Officer for West Yorkshire 14

3 About police and crime commissioners On 5th May, you will be able to vote for your police and crime commissioner (PCC). The job of the PCC is to oversee the police and ensure that they are prioritising what matters to you. Elections will be taking place in England and Wales, excluding London and Greater Manchester. Police and crime commissioners are elected by you to ensure the policing needs of your community are met as effectively as possible and to oversee how crime is tackled in your area. 40 PCCs will be elected across England and Wales (excluding London and Greater Manchester). The PCC in your area holds your police force to account for delivering the kind of policing you want to see. Their aim will be to cut crime and to ensure your police force is effective. PCCs bring a public voice to policing and they do this by: engaging with the public and victims of crime to help set police and crime plans; ensuring the police force budget is spent where it matters most; and appointing, and where necessary dismissing, the chief constable. Work with others PCCs also work with your council and other organisations to promote and enable joined up working on community safety and criminal justice. The PCC does not run the police force. Chief constables are responsible for the day to day operations of the police, but they are accountable to the public via the police and crime commissioner. PCCs ensure an effective policing contribution alongside other partners to national arrangements to protect the public from other cross-boundary threats. Represent the entire community PCCs are required to swear an oath of impartiality when they are elected to office. The oath is designed so that PCCs can set out publicly their commitment to tackling their role with integrity. It reflects the commitment police officers make to serve every member of the public impartially and makes clear that they are there to serve the people, not a political party or any one section of their electorate. Find your candidate This booklet contains information on the candidates standing for election in West Yorkshire police force area. You can also order a copy of this booklet in the following formats: large print, braille and audio. To place your order visit or call About your vote You need to be registered to be able to vote. If you are not registered visit or contact your local council. If you are registered, and eligible to vote you can either vote in person at a polling station, by post, or by proxy (allowing someone you trust to vote on your behalf). In this election you can vote for a first and second preference of who you want to win. For more information about your vote and other elections taking place on 5th May visit

4 Mark Burns-Williamson Labour Party Mark Burns-Williamson OBE Election Statement I have served as West Yorkshire s Police & Crime Commissioner since I was elected in 2012, I am standing to be re-elected on my record of delivery. I am the only candidate in West Yorkshire with the proven ability and track record to stand up for people across West Yorkshire providing the strong committed leadership our police and communities need. I made firm promises when I was elected to stand against the 140m Tory cut to the police in West Yorkshire and to protect frontline policing. I have delivered and with partners have protected our local Police and Community Support Officers whilst also recruiting an extra 300 police officers to rebuild policing numbers in West Yorkshire. I continue to fight for more Proceeds of Crime to come back to West Yorkshire and to invest more of this money to make sure our communities are safer and feel safer. I am proud that my Safer Communities Fund has now provided 1.2m new funding to hundreds of local groups to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour and support victims. I pledged to reduce the cost of my office in line with Government cuts to the police and I now have one of the lowest office costs in England & Wales. My pledges to you: Protect frontline policing Protect Police & Community Support Officers Put more proceeds of crime back into our communities Put victims, in particular the most vulnerable, first Fight for a fairer funding deal for West Yorkshire A vote for me is a vote to protect frontline policing and committed leadership. Please vote LABOUR on 5 May. This statement was prepared by Neil Dawson at 20/22, Cheapside, Wakefield. To read more about my pledges and policing priorities go to:

5 Peter Allan Gilchrist Corkindale UK Independence Party (UKIP) As the role of the PCC has evolved it is apparent that in order to serve the people of West Yorkshire it is vital that the PCC becomes less of a political animal and more of a facilitator. It is therefore perhaps fortunate that I have had a varied working life one it could be said is tailor made for the role of PCC. Twelve years in industry, twenty seven as a Police Officer and five as a local Politician. I am one of the first to sign the Committee on Standards in Public Life checklist showing I am committed to openness, transparency and high ethical standards in public life. Making decisions in an open and transparent way, ensuring that members of the public have easy access to the PCC and that they are listened to so that the service delivered is of the highest quality. I am also committed to the eradication of fraud. I also believe that the Chief Officer needs support so that he or she can be innovative and free to run the force without undue interference. Support for officers and support staff who can do the job knowing that those at the top will back them in their efforts and supply the best and latest equipment to make the job less hazardous where possible. It is after all a job like no other. All crimes recorded and every part of a Policing area dealt with sympathetically in particular the unique way rural areas need Policing compared to urban areas. This form has been prepared and submitted by me Brian Morris, 244 West Lane, Keighley BD21 2NS Election agent for Peter Corkindale peter.corkindale@ukip-keighley.org.uk

6 Allan Joseph Doherty The Conservative Party Candidate People in West Yorkshire should have confidence that their Police & Crime Commissioner is listening to their concerns, that s why I m determined to take action on the things that matter most to you and your family. For 31 years I served West Yorkshire Police in both uniform and CID roles across Halifax, Leeds and Bradford and was commended on 22 occasions, retiring in 2010 as a Commander in the force. I ve been listening to your views to help produce a clear 5-point plan to keep you and your family safe; Listening to you I will listen to your concerns and focus on the most important issues, protecting the budget and ensuring every pound is spent wisely to invest in frontline services. Working with the community I want to see a force that is visible and accessible, with increased neighborhood patrols and officers present at community and transport hubs. Collaborating with partners I would work with organisations across the county and beyond to ensure resources and information are shared to prevent and reduce crime. Tackling cyber-crime Some of the most vulnerable victims in society are targeted using the internet. I will create a unit to prevent internet crime and to train officers to deal with cyber-crime more effectively. Cutting crime I will maximise the impact that technology can make to reducing crime by ensuring current CCTV systems across the county are fully utilised to deter and convict criminals. Prepared by Phillip Booth on behalf of Allan Doherty, both of Unit 7, Brookfoot Business Park, Elland Road, Brighouse, HD6 2SD Allandoherty.org.uk allan@allandoherty.org.uk

7 Barry Stewart Golton Liberal Democrats This election address has been prepared by Martin Hamilton, 1 Lydgate Street, Leeds, LS28 5RP stewartgolton@live.com Website: stewartgolton.mycouncillor.org.uk I I have been a local Councillor since 1998, and I know that the basis of any successful community is to provide a confident neighbourhood safe from crime. Our Neighbourhood Policing Teams are the key to making us feel secure on our streets, but they are increasingly being undermined through poor support. Police vacancies remain unfilled while the frontline policing budget for our area has 3 million lying there unspent. Crime has reduced in many areas, but these neighbourhoods often then see their PCSOs reduced and sent elsewhere, risking crime going up once more. To make matters worse, the majority of crimes that are committed go unsolved, with the perpetrators free to offend again. The entourage around the Police & Crime Commissioner costs over 1 million, and 26 million sits in the bank as reserves for a rainy day. It s time to get more of this money spent: to get all our areas their fair share of community policing; introduce more No Cold Calling Zones to protect the vulnerable from fraud; to tackle hate crime and domestic violence head on; to deter more from offending in the first place by catching more of those that do

8 Therese Hirst English Democrats More Police catching criminals! There can be no doubt that communities across West Yorkshire are facing unprecedented challenges due to sustained government cuts to policing budgets which will have seen them slashed by almost a third and to threats from extremists who seek to undermine our English values and destroy our way of life. However, priority must be given to traditional policing, where communities can be secure in the knowledge that the police actually serve the local community and have a visible presence, and can be on hand to address issues that matter to them, such as domestic burglary, anti-social behaviour and drug crime, which have gone largely unchallenged. Yet, sometimes prevention is better than cure and a special department with its own budget will be set up so that households can apply for a grant to make their homes more secure. I remain steadfast to challenging religious and cultural practices which place many women at the risk of serious harm, through forced marriages, domestic abuse and illegal divorces. So too, to the protection of each and every child in our community from child sexual exploitation or from institutions that masquerade as places of education but in reality indoctrinate and teach intolerance and to tackling political correctness which has led to 1,000 s of serious crimes swept under the carpet. 12 In a time of austerity, when many hundreds of families across the region rely on food banks and cannot afford to heat their homes, I pledge a third of my salary to go back directly into the community elected officials can no longer place themselves above the ordinary person for our communities to see real change we really do have to all be in it together. This Election Address has been prepared by Therese Hirst, Campaign Office, 8 Oatsroyd Mill, Halifax, HX2 6RL Democrats?src= _notif ThereseHirst@EngDem.org 13

9 Statement by the Police Area Returning Officer for West Yorkshire This booklet contains more information about those candidates (where provided) and other information useful to voters. The information provided by a candidate is their responsibility, and may not reflect the opinions of myself or my council. As Police Area Returning Officer I am responsible for coordinating the election and announcing the result in West Yorkshire. Police and Crime Commissioner Elections will be held in West Yorkshire on 5th May 2016; the candidates standing in that election, alphabetically by surname (as they will appear on the ballot paper), are: Burns-Williamson, Mark (Labour Party) Corkindale, Peter Allan Gilchrist (UK Independence Party (UKIP) Doherty, Allan Joseph (The Conservative Party Candidate) Golton, Barry Stewart (Liberal Democrats) Hirst, Therese (English Democrats More Police catching criminals! ) I can be contacted at: Joanne Roney OBE Town Hall Wood Street Wakefield WF1 2HQ elections@wakefield.gov.uk