Missing the point over crime commissioner’s new deputy

IN accusing Humberside crime commissioner Matthew Grove of “cronyism” (Yorkshire Post, December 29) in his appointment of his East Riding Council friend and colleague Paul Robinson as his deputy, I think the point is being missed.

During the past 12 months, two chief constables of northern police forces have faced disciplinary proceedings for gross misconduct for allegedly attempting to procure employment within their forces for relatives of friends/colleagues. Both were found guilty and are no longer in post.

Of course, unlike them Mr Grove has not been sworn in as a constable. He has not had to undertake the rigorous training in law and procedures required by men and women joining the police service as constables. He will not don the uniform and present himself to the public to be abused or even assaulted on a regular basis and nor will he be subject to police regulations and the restrictions placed on officers’ private lives.

Ironically, there is a debate going on now, Mr Robinson, about police officers having second jobs.

But, lest we forget, these men belong to that select branch of the population who live in a different world. They are politicians and can do, and are doing, exactly as they like.

I wonder how many voters in the Mickey Mouse elections last November were aware Mr Grove would appoint a deputy? I wonder if the position was advertised and if so, how many people were interviewed? When, I wonder will Mr Grove require a secretary and admin staff, an office and all that entails? The whole scenario is a desperate, desperate waste of money which could have been better applied to the provision of a few proper police officers.

From: Ian Smith, Colston Close, Bradford, West Yorkshire.

I WONDER why the crime commissioner for West Yorkshire, Mark Burns-Williamson, like so many others it seems, did not inform the electorate during the PCC campaign that he would be appointing a deputy if elected. He did, of course, tell those who he thought mattered politically – his employer and the Labour Party (Yorkshire Post, January 3). Did he think that he would lose votes, and that we didn’t need to know anyway?

Taking the political ground (although this post should have been apolitical), he marketed himself as someone who would fight against the Government’s finance reductions.

Well, since a part of his job is to consult us, let us all tell Mr Burns-Williamson to reduce his own £100,000 salary, drop the idea of a deputy, and work harder at the job of improving the police’s image rather than at politics; then he’ll come a little nearer to saving a few other, more important police jobs as well as working towards demonstrating a wholly respected police force.

From: T W Coxon, West Aukland Road, Darlington.

I NOTE your correspondent’s report on appointments of deputy police commissioners (Yorkshire Post, January 3).

Well, the bandwagon is really rolling now, as police commissioners appoint deputies and these, no doubt, will require assistants and full support staff from clerks to chauffeurs and so on and so forth.

We are not in “recession”, we are in “confusion”, where personal politics take precedence over the real concerns of the nation. Shame on them all.

How have we managed for hundreds of years without these people?

Roll on the next election and see what the public think.