The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
Marc Jones is the new Lincolnshire Police and Crime Commissioner.
The Conservative candidate takes up his £65,000 post on Thursday (May 12) after winning yesterday’s election.
Mr Jones polled 48,033 across the county, more than 10,000 ahead of UKIP candidate Victoria Ayling (37,420). Labour candidate Lucinda Preston gained 25,475 votes and Daniel Simpson (Lincolnshire Independents) 18,497.
It was a fairly tight affair in South Holland, where Mr Jones received 4,692 votes and Mrs Ayling 4,006.
The role of the PCC is to be the voice of the people and hold the police to account.
Duties include:
- secure an efficient and effective police force for their area
- appoint the Chief Constable and hold them to account for running the force
- set the police and crime objectives for their area through a police and crime plan
- set the force budget and determine the precept
Mr Jones’ address to Voice readers ahead of the election included these six pledges:
- Introduce ‘community constables’ to boost visible neighbourhood policing by recruiting local people with powers of arrest to work in our communities
- Focus on crime prevention by spotting the warning signs of issues in our communities early to reduce the number of victims of crime and the fear of crime
- Deal with rural crime seriously so that issues such as hare coursing, and rural theft do not damage our local economy and put local jobs at risk
- Clean up our streets with a tough approach to street drinking, fly-tipping, litter and excess noise which are a blight on our towns and communities
- Spend taxpayers’ money wisely leaving more for front line policing. Over £165,000 was wasted on the unnecessary suspension of Lincolnshire’s Chief Constable by the outgoing commissioner
- Treat victims of crime compassionately with better support and effective aftercare. Being a victim of crime is bad enough without feeling used by the system.
The outgoing commissioner, Alan Hardwick, said: “I want to warmly congratulate Marc.
“It’s a big job and I wish the new commissioner the very best for the future. Lincolnshire Police is a force that, nationally and locally, punches well above its weight.
“I have no doubt that, with a strong and determined PCC to continue the campaign for fairer funding, the county will continue to be a safe place in which to live and work.”
Mr Hardwick was the first person in the role, standing as an independent candidate in November 2012.
Turnout for the election across Lincolnshire this year was 114,766 – 21.19 per cent, which is about six per cent up on 2012.
