The controversial appointment of a new Crime Commissioner for York and North Yorkshire will be subject to scrutiny at a meeting taking place next week.
Background details of the meeting can be read by clicking this link
The proposed appointment by the new Mayor has been criticised as a bad example of cronyism.
He had been expected to explain his reasons for making the proposal in papers to be submitted to the meeting.
In particular, residents wanted to know how many other names were considered for the £70k per year post.
But only a cursory – borderline patronising – report has been submitted by the new Mayor. In it, he claims that he cannot provide more details of his plans because local authorities cannot publish propaganda in the run-up to a General Election!
The Mayor’s statement includes this gem
“Whilst it would not be appropriate to expand in detail on new strategies and initiatives during the pre-election period, it can safely be said that alignment of strategic outcomes across the devolved remits is a shared endeavour between the Mayor, the proposed Deputy Mayor for Policing, Fire & Crime and the Combined Authority and its partner organisations”.
That is borderline Sir Humphrey “Yes Minister” claptrap.
The proposed new commissioner – Jo Coles’ – has also provided a statement which is largely pedestrian in content. It avoids comments on budgetary issues and solutions.
She clearly has no relevant practical experience of managing policing or fire services, but then neither did her predecessors, who were also all time-serving party hacks. They did, however, have to submit their names for election,
NB. Two of the last three Crime Commissioners left their posts under a cloud.
York News Focus 