Plaid Cymru’s Arfon Jones sworn as new Police and Crime Commissioner following landlside election win
Former North Wales Police inspector Arfon Jones has been elected as the new police and crime commissioner.
The Wrexham councillor and Plaid Cymru candidate beat Labour’s David James Taylor to first place by a massive margin of 25,364 votes.
Coleg Cambria sports hall was the centre of attention on Sunday as counting got underway at 11am, the result was announced aroun 3.30pm.
The first PCC election in 2012 drew only 14.8% of the north Wales electorate, lower than the 15% national average across the 41 English and Welsh police areas, turnout was a peacetime low for a national election.
Turnout for 2016 was much improved at 43.8% largely due to the Assembly elections being held on the same day.
So, what do Police and Crime Commissioners do?
The Police and Crime Commissioner replaced local police authorities in 2012.
The Police and Crime Commissioner is responsible for holding the Chief Constable and police force to account on the public’s behalf.
The Police and Crime Commissioner oversees how crime is tackled in their area and aims to make sure the police are providing a good service.
The Police and Crime Commissioner role includes:
- meeting the public regularly to listen to their views on policing
- producing a police and crime plan setting out local policing priorities
- deciding how the budget will be spent
- appointing Chief Constables and dismissing them if needed
Who is Owain Arfon Jones?
Arfon is a former North Wales Inspector from Harlech originally, who retired in 2008 after 30 years’ as both a uniformed and plain clothes officer. This included time in Regional Crime Intelligence in Manchester and as Head of Child Protection for North Wales Police.
Arfon is a Wrexham Councillor and currently chairs the Community Health Council in Wrexham.
“As Police Commissioner my first job would be to carry out a review of core policing in North Wales. There are indications that over 60% of Police work is work that other agencies should be doing.
“Savings could be made by targeting resources more effectively, i.e. Youth Justice does excellent work but better resourcing could see them intervening earlier and diverting young people away from crime.
“A lot of money is wasted by arresting the most vulnerable in society. Jailing homeless veterans isself defeating. We need better partnership working to support the vulnerable.
“I will also campaign for better policing of protests and sporting events. Policing of such events does not always seem to be as impartial or proportionate as it should be.
“There should be more emphasis on roads policing to reduce those killed or seriously injured, particularly amongst young people.
“I would provide all frontline officers with ‘Body Worn Videos’ which would improve evidence gathering and secure more convictions, especially in ‘domestic violence’ cases. It would help resolve complaints against police.
“I would also pledge not to outsource police services and ensure that tendering for services benefits the economy of North Wales as far as is practicable.
“Finally, I would liaise closely and seek to negotiate with the National Offender Management Service regarding policing issues around the new prison in Wrexham.
This Candidate address has been completed by
Website – http://arfonjones.cymru
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