By Sarah Booker-Lewis, BBC-funded Local Democracy Reporter
- Four candidates who hope to become the Sussex police and crime commissioner (PCC) are standing for election on Thursday 2 May.
- They are the incumbent Katy Bourne (Conservative) and three challengers – Jamie Bennett (Liberal Democrat), Jonathan Kent (Green), and Paul Richards (Labour and Co-operative) .
- Each candidate was sent ten questions sourced from the public.
Below are the responses from Liberal Democrat candidate Jamie Bennett, 34, a hotel manager who tweets as @JamieBen120689. He is pictured above.
What difference will you make if you are elected?
Liberal Democrats believe the post of PCC should be abolished but, until we are in a position to do this, I will work to reduce the cost of the office of PCC on the police budget and ensure this is re-invested in actual police numbers.
Sussex Police have seen so many cuts to police numbers and the community of Sussex is suffering from it.
How will you deal with shoplifting and protect shop staff?
Criminals are fully aware that they will get away with shoplifting because there are very few police officers to deal with it.
I have spoken to retail workers and police officers and they all give me the same message: “We need police and PCSO numbers to be reinstated to at least 2011 levels as a minimum.”
Instead of more gimmicks, it’s time for the Conservatives to commit to what actually works to stop crime – proper community policing, where officers are visible and trusted, with the time and resources to focus on neighbourhood crime.
Police rarely respond to calls about drug addicts taking drugs and dealing in our street where a number of children live. How will you tackle drug crime?
This is because unnecessary cuts and ineffective resourcing by the Conservatives have left our police forces overstretched, under-resourced and unable to focus on tackling the crimes that affect our communities the most.
I have spent time with police officers and they are so short daily, they have to prioritise what they attend.
Groups of young people abuse and harass people in my area and behave in an anti-social way. What will you do about troublesome teenagers?
Police officers spend hours a day doing paperwork instead of being on the streets because back-office staff numbers have also been cut and some custody centres mothballed by the Conservative PCC in Sussex.
We also need to free up existing officers’ time to focus on their local areas.
Lib Dems plan to set up a new national Online Crime Agency, properly resource the National Crime Agency to combat serious and organised crime and work with police forces to determine what tasks are using disproportionate amounts of officers’ time.
Few police officers were on duty during the recent public disorder in Barnham and not all of those were available to respond. How will you ensure enough officers are on duty to protect people and property and keep the peace?
At its heart, restoring community policing means getting more officers out and about in their local neighbourhoods, focused on solving and preventing the types of crimes that impact our communities the most.
As of September 2023, the Conservatives had taken over 91 police community support officers (PCSOs) off the streets in Sussex since 2015. This is down 27.8 per cent.
What will you do to improve the policing of bad driving, illegal scooters and other traffic offences?
As with all areas of Sussex the road policing units have been cut and we are now in a situation where they don’t have the time to do proactive work any more and spend their day responding to incidents.
They also now spend a lot of time supporting non-road related 999 calls because there are not enough local officers. As with all areas, we need to resource this area correctly
While shortcomings in policing fraud are not unique to Sussex, what changes would you make?
Fraud is an appalling crime that claims three million victims across the country every year.
It particularly preys on vulnerable people and can cause severe financial hardship as well as enormous distress and fear.
Liberal Democrats would tackle fraud and scams by
- naming and shaming the banks with the worst records on preventing fraud and reimbursing victims
- requiring banks to reimburse victims of automated push payment scams unless there is clear evidence that they are not at fault
- launching a high-profile public awareness campaign to help people spot, avoid and report frauds and scams
How will you retain the best staff and improve morale, welfare and the force’s reputation while weeding out those who fall short of the required standard?
I have spoken to many officers in Sussex, some who are still serving and some who have left, and the overwhelming reason they leaving or considering leaving is safety.
Because of the number of police officers in Sussex, they have no confidence that if they need assistance it will arrive in time.
Most officers drive around on their own and the closest unit to assist might be 20 minutes plus away. That’s not a reassurance.
Other forces seem to be more open and transparent in dealing with misconduct by officers, in line with legal changes. How will you bring Sussex into line with best practice?
Sussex Police is a public body and should be as open and transparent as possible so I will work with the Chief Constable to ensure as much information is published as possible, not just about misconduct but also to celebrate the amazing work our men and women in Sussex Police do every day.
Why should we vote for you?
I will work for you the public to ensure the police are correctly funded and resourced.
Over £100 million has been spent to run police and crime commissioners’ offices across the UK since 2019, despite little evidence they have made the police more accountable to local communities.
I will reduce the cost to Sussex as much as possible, including cutting my own salary.
The latest government figures show that the 2016 PCC elections cost nearly £50 million, despite turnout being less than 28 per cent.
:: Polling stations across Sussex are due to open at 7am on Thursday 2 May and close at 10pm. Photo ID is required for those voting in person.
