New Police and Crime Commissioner would not abolish Police and Crime Commissioner role

Your Police and Crime Commissioner has asked those who feel disengaged, or has suggestions, to come meet him as he looks to boost engagement following a lacklustre turnout in his reelection.

Labour’s Andy Dunbobbin was re-elected as the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) for North Wales in a vote on Thursday, and declared at the count yesterday.

The former Flintshire councillor won with 31,950 overall votes defeating Conservative Brian Jones by 5,309 votes. Former Plaid Cymru Deputy PCC Ann Griffith finished in third place with 23,466 votes, while Liberal Democrat Richard Marbrowpolled in fourth with 7,129.

There was a low overall turnout in North Wales for the latest PCC election of 17.19 per cent, with the total number of votes cast amounting to 89,599. The turnout figure was down by just under 29 per cent compared to the last poll in 2021, although the previous vote was held on the same day as the Senedd election.

Speaking to Wrexham.co a few minutes after the result was announced we asked the ‘new’ PCC for their initial reaction.

Dunbobbin said, “I’m really pleased with the results of the elections. I was the only candidate who had a local manifesto, resonated with people, and it’s about building on the successes achieved during the last few years as well. So I’m really pleased about that. I’m really grateful to the public.

The turnout was not fantastic, and vote per candidate was down on a personal level. We asked what he would do in the future to boost the profile of PCCs and what work would he do to reengage with the population.

He replied, “I hear what people are saying, and it has become really prominent on the election campaign. What I would say is that I have been out canvassing the last quite a number of weeks really, with the parliamentary candidates as well, because at some point, we know that a general election is going to be called.

“There are a number of things that have taken place in my term, introduction of surgeries, the fortnightly newsletter, our social media presence has increased, looking at other avenues as well regarding the business community and using the LinkedIn account as well that has been created. There’s always room for improvement and that’s what I’ll be wanting to do, build upon those things that we introduced. Maybe people didn’t know those things were around, now is an opportunity to shine a light on that and get people really engaged further”.

We noted the pretty dire local turnout and asked for his thoughts.

Mr Dunbobbin said, “It is low. But, I think we were always sort of half expecting that with it being a standalone election. With it being a change in the electoral system that’s used to determine the outcome, with first past the post. I’ve campaigned strong, I’ve got a really good record of delivery for the people in North Wales and that’s why the people in North Wales reelected me.

We asked him about being back at the desk Monday morning and what his priority would be.

He replied, “I think the first thing I will be kicking on with is spending some quality time with my wife and children, because they’ve not seen much of me over the last couple of months. But, I will be looking at implementing what’s in my manifesto, bringing that forward and put it into the Police and Crime Plan that will be presented to panel members. Then hopefully, I am hoping I will be one of the first to have the Police and Crime Plan approved by the Police and Crime Panel. So I’ve got a plan. We’ve got clear direction in which way we want to be going, and looking forward to the start again on Tuesday.

We asked what the challenges and priorities were specifically in the local area, with us told serious organised crime and the “intrinsic links there that links into child sexual exploitation, modern slavery, cybercrime” were the focus.

We asked if he felt the PCC election should be reattached to Senedd, Westminster or Council elections to boost turnouts.

He said, “I think that’s a really good question. There’s been a PCC review, the (change to) first past the post system was part of that review. So there’s a second part of the PCC review as well. So maybe it will tie in with that. I think it would be, more beneficial to increase that turnout, to get people engaged. That’s what it’s about, isn’t it?

With the PCC election taking place amid a range of elections across the UK we asked for his view on how it reflects on a forthcoming General election, or if it wasn’t possible to link the two.

“What it clearly says to me is that in North Wales, and across England and Wales, that there’s a strong message to the Conservative governments, that people want change. Please call that General Election because, to be quite brutal, people have had enough and they just want to see that shift and change. Sunak has bottled it, he could have had it the same time as this that would have saved the public a lot of money as well.

Lots of feedback in the run up to, and on polling day itself, was around the role of the PCC and if the position should exist at all. We asked the new PCC if he would be looking to abolish himself, or if he thought it was a valuable position.

The new PCC said, “I think it’s a valuable position because I am accountable to the public. I think, as we’ve been talking about, along that theme of engagement and understanding and improving things like that, that’s what I’m keen to do. Anybody who’s feeling disengaged, or got any suggestions or really wanting to know more, please come and see me and make an appointment.

“I think with what I’ve done, the newsletters, the surgeries, all the positive steps that I’ve taken to improve that engagement its really about building upon that, and I really would wish that people take the opportunity to come and see me. I’m listening to you, and I’m here to represent you.

(Top pic: The Dunbobbin family celebrate his win)