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 Green candidate Jonathan Kent, a former BBC journalist who tweets as @jolph. He is pictured above.
What difference will you make if you are elected?
For years we’ve had a Conservative police and crime commissioner under a Tory government bent on cutting public services.
Greens, like Brighton Pavilion MP Caroline Lucas and MP candidate Siân Berry, have been fearless and independent voices holding our public servants to account.
I won’t be afraid to call out issues that need addressing whether it be police conduct or underfunding and I will be a tireless advocate both for Sussex people and our police officers so we both get the best of one another.
How will you deal with shoplifting and protect shop staff?
There’s no excuse for taking out one’s anger and frustration on shop staff. Because our police services are both poorly funded and officers are filling gaps left by cuts to other services, response times and clear-up rates are inevitably affected.
Practical answers include CCTV, facial recognition software and intelligence-led follow-ups.
But it’s no surprise that with people under massive strain and food bank use exploding, some, unacceptably, take it out on others. Fairer communities are also safer communities.
Police rarely respond to calls about drug addicts taking drugs and dealing in our street where a number children live. How will you tackle drug crime?
I support a sensible, evidence-led policy on drugs, something on which the UK is lagging behind many other countries.
Successive governments’ policies seem to be dictated more by the tabloids than science.
We should target the most dangerous drug use and the criminals who profit from it and deprioritise prosecutions for using drugs less harmful than alcohol and tobacco.
I’m afraid of what might happen if we get a fentanyl epidemic like the one killing 100,000 people a year in the US.
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?
I’d allocate more officers to stop anti-social behaviour but it would also help if we had a government whose MPs didn’t model anti-social ‘screw you, I’m alright Jack’ attitudes to our teenagers.
I’d put the commissioner’s small non-policing budget into youth services and work with our local MPs, including the Greens’ Siân Berry if she’s elected to succeed Caroline Lucas in Brighton Pavilion constituency, to bring police and communities together to offer young people something better to be part of.
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?
I was in Barnham on Friday listening to residents’ concerns. Many officers are being diverted to look after people in mental health crisis, something the Chief Constable also told me last week.
Mental health services have been gutted by 14 years of austerity and the NHS is struggling to help. Likewise, many officers are assigned to deal with instances of domestic violence.
I’m demanding better police funding and a clear, holistic approach to crime and its causes.
What will you do to improve the policing of bad driving, illegal scooters and other traffic offences?
Sussex could benefit from an overarching community-driven, anti-social behaviour strategy that encompasses bad driving and poor behaviour on the roads.
Operation Crackdown is a great idea but filing a report is time-consuming which stops people reporting dangerous behaviour on the roads.
At the moment, traffic offences are treated differently from issues like vandalism and drunkenness but the consequences can be even more severe.
When people have to answer to their communities, they have a powerful incentive to behave better.
While shortcomings in policing fraud are not unique to Sussex, what changes would you make?
Sussex Police are gradually refining their recruitment policy but we do need to speed up the process of bringing policing into the digital age.
Much effort is currently put into encouraging people to stay safe online but, as someone with a parent in their nineties, I am particularly aware of how vulnerable older people can be.
However, a lot of fraud is transnational and that limits what our police can do. Closer co-operation with social services and with international police services would help.
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?
Big question. We routinely underpay the people who look after us whether police officers or nurses.
Nationally we need a government that will reduce inequality and tackle the cost of living crisis.
I want traditional British values of policing, with the consent of the community to be more prominent in both training and practice, for the best officers to mentor ones who could improve and I’d like to encourage communities to recognise outstanding service as well.
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?
As someone who works with organisations to improve their communications, I feel I’m well placed to help.
If you want to build trust, it’s essential to get information out before it’s asked for.
If Sussex Police aren’t confident in their disciplinary procedures, they need to improve them as a priority. If they are, then there’s no reason to not be foot-forward on this.
Why should we vote for you?
Green politics is grassroots politics and creating institutions that are properly accountable to all of us is at its heart.
I would work tirelessly to ensure the police are deeply interconnected with every part of society in Sussex so that everyone can see officers as friends to their communities as well as servants of the law.
I’d also be a fearless advocate for Sussex Police having the resources it needs to carry out its responsibilities to a high standard across Sussex.
:: 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.
