West Midlands PCC

[johnloony]

Aug 25, 2014 18:09:55 GMT Richard Allen said:

I am not going to argue that awareness was the only problem but I know plenty of people who had no idea that there was an election last Thursday.

What do such people think when they receive their poll card?

[Deleted]

Aug 25, 2014 11:25:59 GMT The Bishop said:

When turnout is *this* low, it can at least be argued that there is more to it than simple apathy.

I certainly encountered some outright hostility to these elections back in November 2012.

Certainly my parents, who live in Birmingham, deliberately chose to not vote and to hope for a ridiculously low turnout on both occasions as a kind of reaction against the idea of elected PCCs. These are the only times in their lives where they have not voted. I've no idea how common this sentiment is, but I'd be surprised if they're a particularly isolated case.

[Richard Allen]

Aug 26, 2014 11:14:09 GMT @benjamin said:

Aug 25, 2014 11:25:59 GMT The Bishop said:

When turnout is *this* low, it can at least be argued that there is more to it than simple apathy.

I certainly encountered some outright hostility to these elections back in November 2012.

Certainly my parents, who live in Birmingham, deliberately chose to not vote and to hope for a ridiculously low turnout on both occasions as a kind of reaction against the idea of elected PCCs. These are the only times in their lives where they have not voted. I've no idea how common this sentiment is, but I'd be surprised if they're a particularly isolated case.

I remain unconvinced by elected PCCs but I would like those who are so vehemently opposed to them to be able to explain why they think the previous system was so wonderful. There seems to be the vague opposition to "politicising the police" which ignores the fact that the police are already heavily politicised.

[East Anglian Lefty]

I think this is one reason for the low turnout. People who made a decision not to vote on principle will be a small minority (although given turnout, a much larger minority proportionately than is normally the case), but a lot of people undoubtedly saw the candidates, were woefully unenthused by them and figured they'd have an extra 10 minutes lie in in the morning instead of traipsing down to the polling station. Some of this is probably because, whilst intellectually people accept that the police may be politicised, there's little enthusiasm to actively participate in said politicisation.

[Dan]

I suspect most people don't care either who the PCC currently is, or whether there should be a PCC or some other form of oversight, or whether their former Police Authority was effective. Just in the same manner as most people don't care who their local councillor is, or which party controls the council.

When some specific issue crops up that impacts on them specifically, then they'll care. I imagine the number of people in South Yorkshire who have a view on whether their PCC should resign is greater than the number of people who bothered to vote in the November 2012 election.

It's a problem affecting elected representatives at all levels. The public generally are neither interested nor bothered about their elected representatives. It's profoundly depressing to think of the logical conclusion of this mindset.

[carlton43]

Aug 29, 2014 11:32:09 GMT Dan said:

I suspect most people don't care either who the PCC currently is, or whether there should be a PCC or some other form of oversight, or whether their former Police Authority was effective. Just in the same manner as most people don't care who their local councillor is, or which party controls the council.

When some specific issue crops up that impacts on them specifically, then they'll care. I imagine the number of people in South Yorkshire who have a view on whether their PCC should resign is greater than the number of people who bothered to vote in the November 2012 election.

It's a problem affecting elected representatives at all levels. The public generally are neither interested nor bothered about their elected representatives. It's profoundly depressing to think of the logical conclusion of this mindset.

The 'Logical Conclusion' is to make the role meaningful to Joe Public. As it stands they know an MP has little say in anything at all and votes according to the whip and that big decisions are made by the EU and handed down or by Ministers in America and handed down. They know the average councillor does uninteresting stuff and that nothing much changes whoever is at the Town Hall. The Councils do things Westminster tell them to. It is routine and admin. Even in planning the decisions can be and are overturned by Ministers in London. We refuse to turn out and vote for things that are largely inconsequential and where no one wants to know what we want done or what we think. If they did there would be no Green policies, no massive transfers of value to Foreign Aid, far less immigration, much lower prices for alcohol, tobacco, fuel and power. As we can't alter the things we want to alter and no one gives a toss about our view, why favour them with a vote. Waste of time.