Police and crime commissioner

Next to her, Matt Stadlen, political commentator, the host of the podcast 20 Questions With.

And to my right, Festus Akinbosoye, a Conservative Member of Westminster City Council and former Police and Crime Commissioner, who's seeking his party's nomination for the 2028 London mayoral election.

And you may notice a seat empty to our right.

Unfortunately, our fourth guest had to drop out through illness, and it was quite late on, so we didn't have a chance to replace them.

So without further ado, I will introduce the panel and bring in our first speaker.

So first to speak is going to be Kim McGuinness, who is the North East Mayor, the first person to hold that post since it was created, former Police and Crime Commissioner in Northumbria.

Kim, you're unfortunately so in demand that you're being summoned away at half past.

So we will definitely go to you first.

So what's your vision for the future of devolution in the Northeast? And what are you really hoping to see delivered as part of the Andy Burnham and the government's rewiring the state white paper and the legislation that will follow?

I'm going to caveat everything I say with the fact that I'm a proper devolution seller.

Yeah, so I've been in politics for 10 years now as a councillor and a cabinet member and then a police and crime commissioner and now I'm a mayor.

I've never stood for parliament with good reason because we have to change the way this country's run.

Two candidates have already put their names into the mix.

Dan Price for Labour, who's the Police and Crime Commissioner, and Ben Fletcher for the Conservatives.

One of the speakers unfortunately had to drop out at the event.

Charlotte Nicholls had a family emergency she needed to deal with.

None of this establishes that Dorset's recorded police crime figures are wrong, but it does raise a question about what never reaches the records in the first place, particularly when police rely on reports from residents to identify where problems are and where resources should be directed.

We've contacted David Sidwick's office, the Police and Crime Commissioner, to ask how confident he is that the recorded picture is sufficiently complete and to find out whether changes are planned.

Alfred, your community radio station, is supported by BV Dairy of Shaftesbury.

From engineering to logistics, finance to food innovation, the food industry offers a world of opportunity.

This week on The Skeptic, Police and Crime Commissioner Rupert Matthews tells me what happened when he turned up at an anti-racism workshop and was then told he couldn't take part because of his age and race.

I

said, look, are you sure about this? Because I'm from the police, I'm here to listen to your concerns and this is an anti-racism meeting and you're chucking out the only white face in the audience.

I'm your guest host, Ellie Hodges.

Now, imagine going to an anti-racism workshop expecting to take part in a discussion about equality, only to be told you can't attend because of your age and race.

Well, that's what Police and Crime Commissioner Rupert Matthews says happened when he turned up at an event at De Montfort University.

And he joins me now to tell us all about it.

Welcome, Rupert.

Cambridgeshire Constabulary's Chief Constable, Simon Megicks, will resign from his role in September, but he will be rehired one month later.

Mr. Megicks, who took over as Chief Constable in September twenty twenty-five, recently asked the county's Police and Crime Commissioner, Darryl Preston, if he could participate in a retire and rejoin scheme.

According to a Police and Crime Panel committee, sorry, document, the scheme allows for any police officer, including a chief constable, to formally resign as an officer before being reappointed into the same rank.

Participation in the scheme does not create any additional cost to the taxpayer and is designed to encourage chief officers who would otherwise, um, sorry, excuse me, who would otherwise retire to stay longer in the post.

The stuff that we are all living with day to day that is blighting, even the nicest neighbourhoods, and people have had enough.

You'd be effectively, not just Mayor, you'd be the Police and Crime Commissioner for London as well.

You'd have the powers to direct policing, to direct the funding that you get from central government for policing.

Would you think about prioritising that? Because I think...