Matt Wright, Welsh Conservative Party Candidiate Profile + Q&A

(Other candidate profiles + Q&A’s: Arfon Jones, Julian Sandham, David Taylor, Simon Wall, Matt Wright)

Wrexham.com has asked every Police and Crime Commissioner candidate for a profile, plus answers to 15 questions we submitted to them. Below is what we have had in return for this candidate.

Links: Tel: 01745 583456 [email protected] Fb.com/conservativepccnorthwales

Q & A

Q1. Many people are still unsure over the role of PCC, what do you see the role of PCC being, and what would you change from the work of the first holder of the post? 

Q1 The Police and Crime Commissioner was always intended to be a public voice and champion for public priorities and not about the appointment of another policeman to oversee the Police. We already have a very capable Chief Constable. A different skill set is required for the PCC to look afresh at the organisation in the interests of the public and get value for money.

Q2. Wrexham will see a change in the fabric of policing with a new town centre station, and a larger HQ in Llay. What are your views on this change? 

Q2. It is important we bring policing as close to the public as possible so I support town centre facilities and want to see more joint agency working from buildings to make wise use of resources and better joint delivery. The right sites for this will vary from location to location across North Wales. We do need new custody suites that meet modern standards and cater for example for special requirements.

Q3. Car arson has sadly been a high profile problem around Wrexham, is this type of issue something a PCC can have specific intervention on, and if so, how? 

Q3. Local action and joint working through the Safety Partnership is the way forward and I would fully support that route which is bearing fruit with some key progress on Caia Park. Local is generally better.

Q4. The PCC role covers North Wales, what practical thing(s) will you do to represent the concerns and interests of the people of Wrexham and the surrounding area specifically? 

Q4. My priority is more bobbies being visibly out in the community and that will be my main aim for Wrexham, as other areas. They act as a deterrent as well as a source of intelligence and they are the conduit for multi-agency working. Empowering them is key and reducing targets and bureaucracy to a few practical aims and outcomes is vital. However I recognise we are in a modern complex world with new crimes so they need to be managed as part of teams and suitably supported with technology.

Q5. At the last election we asked if there would be a decrease in transparency following the abolition of the police authority which had its public meetings and published papers. At the time of writing the last public meeting minutes on the PCC website are from June 2015, the last minutes in the Scrutiny section are from September 2015. The most updated section on the site is the ‘news’ with lots of press releases. How will you increase transparency? 

Q5. This level of information, with insufficient updates on the web site, seems unacceptable but I would like to see more interaction with the community on the ground and not just better web site updates. Information needs to meaningful not just data put onto web sites out of context to public priorities.

Q6. Do you have a view on the current police precept level, and what you would intend to do? 

Q6. Ordinary people’s household bills are already high. I will therefore review the current situation to look at freezing the precept in the short term.

Q7. Are you able to publish on your campaign website (or social media etc) all the campaign donations you have received from individuals and organisations, your membership of any associations, clubs or societies, and your sources of income? If not, why? 

Q7. Financial data has to be provided to the returning officer within a month of an election and I fully support that transparency.

Q8. The PCC role is mooted to expand to include taking on strategic direction of the fire service, and perhaps become a blue light commissioner with responsibility for all the emergency services. What are your views on this and do you think there are savings to be made by for example asking fire or police officers to act as paramedics, or for paramedics and fire officers to deal with the policing aspects of road incidents? 

Q8.Joint working is important for the future and some of this is already happening. More is expected where it is sensible to do so and with proper planning and training.

Q9. What scope do you think the “and crime” element of the role provides? What influence do you expect to exert on justice policy beyond policing, with prisons, probation and the courts for example?

Q9. There is much interaction between all elements of crime and justice and it is vital a PCC is part of a bigger team working with the Government and other agencies and aiming to seek a variety of ways to champion the publics priorities to reduce crime and increase safety.

Q10. Have you ever committed a crime? What happened?

Q10. I have had a speeding ticket and undertaken a speed awareness course which was informative and quite involved.

Q11. Do we currently have any laws you disagree with that you do, or would be prepared to, break?

Q11. No.

Q12. Have you ever taken recreational drugs, and do you think we should treat recreational drug addiction as a criminal or a health problem? 

Q12. No, apart of course from alcohol. Illegal drugs are both a health and criminal issue and we should aim to deal with this accordingly but with a view to rehabilitation of individuals caught in addiction.

Q13. Will you publish the police incident log online, after appropriate redactions? 

Q13. I will look at that and make recommendations as to detail and timing.

Q14. Do you think the UK leaving the EU would make North Wales more, or less, safe? 

Q14. We would seek to keep North Wales safe whatever decision the public come to in their referendum.

Q15. Can you commit to maintain the current number of police constables per thousand of the population?

Q15. Yes.

Profile