The race is on: Dorset police commissioner job fight set to start (From Thisisdorset)

The race is on: Dorset police commissioner job fight set to start

3:00pm Sunday 5th February 2012 in Latest

CANDIDATE? Leader of Dorset County Council, Angus Campbell, is not ruling himself out of the race

THE race to become Dorset’s first elected police commissioner is about to get underway.

With just 10 months to go until county residents go to the polls and vote for an elected police chief, people have started throwing their hats into the ring.

Whoever wins the poll will be paid between £65,000 and £100,000 a year and will replace the Dorset Police Authority.

They will hold the post for four years and will have responsibility for drawing up a policing plan, setting the annual policing budget, appointing a chief constable and holding them to account.

Both the Conservatives and the Labour Party are in the process of inviting potential candidates to put their names forward. They will then embark on a shortlisting process.

Leader of Dorset County Council Cllr Angus Campbell said he not ruled himself out from running.

“I just feel that it would be a fascinating challenge. It’s the fact that it joins up the whole of Dorset together. It’s a pan-Dorset position which I think is hugely important.”

Also hoping to stand is Nick King, a Conservative councillor for Bournemouth and member of the Dorset Police Authority.

He said: “I’m interested in the job. I think it’s fantastic that for the first time there will be direct democratic involvement in the way the police are run.

The Liberal Democrats have not yet decided whether they will field a candidate but Cllr Janet Dover, leader of the Liberal Democrat group on Dorset County Council, said: “I think it’s important to have as wide a spectrum of candidates as possible for the people for Dorset to consider.”

“The running of Dorset Police is a key position, if not the most important position in the county. To have all that responsibility vested in one person is a huge leap of faith and we will have to see how that works out in practice.” A long-standing member of Dorset Police Authority, she said she would consider standing for the role if asked.

“I would have to give it serious consideration,” she said. “But at this moment in time I have not been asked and I may not ever be.”