Next week the whole of County Durham and Darlington will vote for a Police and Crime commissioner.

I personally believe this should not be happening at all. Durham & Darlington Police are run very well. Councillors, elected by you, along with independent members monitor the running of the force and with the strong leadership of a Chief Constable it has always worked well.

The creation of a political leader of the police opens the police up to manipulation by whichever party’s candidate happens to win. Most Lib Dems in the area don’t agree with this and there is no Lib Dem candidate.

There are four candidates standing, and their manifestos can be seen here:

http://www.choosemypcc.org.uk/candidates/area/durham

I will be voting for the only one without any political attachment, though I wish these elections were not happening at all and the cost of them was being spent on front line policing.