Alun Michael is first South Wales PCC

Alun Michael looks forward to the challenge of the new role

Labour candidate Alun Michael has been elected as South Wales’s first Police and Crime Commissioner this week. After a second round count, Mr Michael was elected with 54% of the votes.

Mr Michael has reiterated that the main aim of the police must be to cut crime, by targeting resources at communities to make them feel safe, and that the priorities of the police force must reflect the needs of the public.

On being elected this week Mr Michael said, “I am delighted to take up the new role. It will be challenging, as it is not defined. The real challenge is to build relationships with chief constable and with the police as well as other partners in the wider community, including local authorities.”

Police and Crime Commissioner opposition

With low turnouts across England and Wales, public support was low in the elections from the offset, and now reviews will be carried out investigating the how the elections were ran. Election numbers were at record lows on 15^th November, and Newport saw one of its districts take no votes at all.

David Cameron has denied that a low turnout is representative of a lack of public support for the new policing system. While many people had little or no knowledge of the elections, there was wide discussion in the run up as to the ethics of the police force becoming a political arena.

Criticism for the elections has also been widespread with MPs voicing their opinions. In the post-mortem evaluation of the process, Nick Clegg denied any connection with the policy.