INTERVIEW INTERVIEWS
David Sidwick
Dorset’s new Police and Crime Commissioner. On Thursday 13 May of this year, Dorset (including those of us in BCP) saw a new Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) take up his role after winning 70,353 votes. David Sidwick (Con) took over from outgoing Commissioner Martyn Underhill, who had been in the post for nine years. So we decided to meet Mr Sidwick our new Police and Crime Commissioner to see what his plans were for policing in our area over the next four years. At the time of conducting the interview in June, Mr Sidwick had only been in the role a few weeks but gave some fascinating insights into how he sees his role and the role of policing develop in the coming months and years. BHL: So David, congratulations on your election as Dorset’s new Police & Crime Commissioner but some reading this interview won’t really understand the role. What are your responsibilities? DS: The very simple answer is that you are the elected voice of the people to hold the police to account. It’s my job to create a plan called the ‘Police and Crime Plan’ which has priorities, and that should be based on the needs of the people I represent. So when I was running for election, I conducted a very engaged campaign, which was basically asking the people what they wanted/expected. The PCC also has a responsibility to set the Police budget. There are 2 elements to that: there is a national funding element and also a council tax element called the Precept. So, we need to make certain that there is enough money available. BHL: Dorset has traditionally not had such a generous deal from central government compared to other police forces, why do you think that is? DS: Yes, when you look at the percentage that we actually have coming from the precept (from council tax paid by local tax payers), it is much higher than it is in other areas. From memory I think there is one force that has 80 percent funding from the National Funding Formula and we have less than 50 percent funding from the National Funding Formula. So, this is on my agenda to address that. But it’s also on a lot of other PCC’s agendas too! BHL: James Vaughan, Dorset’s Chief Constable recently announced his retirement. Was it something you said? Ha! No not at all. It’s been something I think James had been considering for a little while and it seemed an opportune time for him to step down and hand
over the reins to somebody new. it’s our responsibility to make that transition work. We are going to be working to make certain we get the best possible candidate. There is a process in place that’s already moving forward. James has announced his retirement but he won’t disappear immediately, he’ll be working with me on the development of the Police and Crime Plan and on a smooth transition to the new Chief Constable going forward. BHL: Why do you think people in Dorset voted for you? What sort of feeling were you getting on the doorsteps when you were campaigning? DS: I think I got a good grasp on the doorsteps of what really matters to people in Dorset. The nature of the campaign that I ran wasn’t about saying ‘Vote for me I’m conservative’ it was about ‘Vote for me because I see the same issues as you do’. I spent two years connecting with local people as part of the campaign. There were over 50 face-to-face meetings and the audience varied between 6 to 300 in a hall. I also spent those 2 years working with the police. I went out with neighbourhood policing teams and the Rural Team and spoke to the Major Crime Investigation team; So, I tried to understand all the pieces of policing in Dorset before getting here. I also did 3 surveys. Over 1000 people answered the Residents Survey and 70 businesses answered the Business Crime Survey. So, I really tried to do what it says on the tin: Be a representative of the people. BHL: So, from those surveys, what do you think are the priorities of the people in Dorset? What do you think they are expecting of their police force? DS: Ok, so let me pick on the two things which came out. One was, very clearly, antisocial behaviour is an issue and that was only slightly less in Dorset but it was top of the tree in BCP. It was closely followed by issues around drugs and vehicle theft, things that are directly linked to the bigger issue. In the rural area there was farm theft, hare coursing, poaching, that sort of stuff. But again, there was antisocial behaviour, there were drugs beginning to creep into our market towns causing concern. So, apart from the rural crime factor, a lot of it is very similar. That is helping me shape priorities, that’s why my first priority is: cut crime and antisocial behaviour. Second priority is something which virtually everybody told me across the whole patch, they want to feel more
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