Crime & Policing
Candidate for Police & Crime Commissioner Election
Contribution thanks to
Festus Akinbusoye www.fest4bedspcc.co.uk enquiries@fest4bedspcc.co.uk
I hope to be your next elected Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) for Bedfordshire in 2021. PCCs are elected by the public to set the strategic priorities for the policing area and hold the Chief Constable accountable for delivering these, ensure support is there for victims, and work with the Chief Constable to oversee the reduction of crime in the area. In short, PCCs are there to be the voice of the public in dealing with the police. Here in Bedfordshire, we have seen the investment in police increase from £102m in 2010 to just over £120m in 2020/21. This has also meant officer numbers are increasing again after the cuts of a few years ago. I have seen the valuable addition these new officers are to our police force having done over 200 frontline duties as a Special Constable in two months. I commend our police officers for their remarkable work in keeping us safe. While I welcome the increased investment, we absolutely need it to be sustained and increased. Under successive governments, we have been funded as a rural area, when in fact, we have similar crime challenges compared to larger urban areas like Birmingham, Manchester and parts of London. I want to work with the government, in making the case for this unfair funding formula to be fixed once and for all if elected as your next Police and Crime Commissioner in May 2021. I live in rural Bedfordshire and have done so for ten years. My children attend school in the area, and I recently volunteered over 200 frontline hours in two months as a Special Constable with Bedfordshire Police. I run a business which employs about sixty staff and have mentored young offenders in prison, served as a link governor for the Offender Learning and Skills Services at a further education college, and currently am a board member at a YMCA. My time spent getting to understand the challenges facing our police force, working to rehabilitate offenders, and nearly 20 years’ experience running a business puts me in the best position to lead a policing area that delivers for residents in both our urban and rural communities. I will be a Police and Crime Commissioner for all of Bedfordshire and with your support, we can become an outstanding police area. 16
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