With a little over a week to go before the second Police & Crime Commissioner election, there is a distinct lack of information available from the candidates, with all but the incumbent referring prospective voters to their respective party websites.

There are two possible reason for this, one, due to the lack lustre turnout, less than 40%, in the last election, why bother to spend money campaigning when nobody is going to vote. Or two, as there are no independents standing this time around, all the candidates will be the puppets of their party and undertake the roll as per the party line.

Common to all though is the urban centric position of the candidates, which I assume is borne out of the party line being constructed in London. There is very little to indicate that whichever candidate should gain office that, outside of any major conurbations in the area, much will change from the current level of policing in the more rural areas of the county.

With regard to shooting and the shooting sports as a whole, despite making representation to the candidates through their various websites, no-one has bothered to respond to my question on their own personal view on the relationship between the police and law abiding members of the populace owning firearms. Once again, you will have to draw your own conclusion and refer to the respective party, to have an answer to this question.

The idea of the PCC is on the whole a good one, but the position has now, after only one previous election, been hijacked by the main political parties, as another arm to push their own agenda in the communities in which they are successful. This link will take you to Choose my PCC there you can find out who will be standing and what they (their party) stands for in local policing.

Whoever you do select, make sure that you do go out and exercise the right to vote, just arguing about with friends won’t make a difference, but that cross on the ballot may just make all the difference.