THE new Police and Crime Commissioner for Surrey, Lisa Townsend, has pledged to keep residents’ views at the heart of her plans for the future as she took up office following her election victory.
The Commissioner spent her first day in the role at the Surrey Police Headquarters in Mount Browne meeting some of her new team and spending time with the Chief Constable Gavin Stephens.
She said she is committed to addressing those key issues that residents of Surrey have told her are important to them such as tackling anti-social behaviour in our communities, improving police visibility, making the county's roads safer and preventing violence against women and girls.
“I would like to thank everyone who has supported me and the public who came out to vote. I am determined to repay the faith they have shown in me by doing everything I can in this role to be the residents’ voice on policing.”
Lisa Townsend topped the first preference votes for the Conservatives with 112,260, followed by Liberal Democrat Paul Kennedy with 69,412. As neither received more than 50% of the votes cast, a second round of counting was required, taking second preferences into account.
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Mrs Townsend had 42,856 second votes and Mr Kennedy won 42,803, so she was declared the winner.
In third place with 59,554 was Kevin Hurley, who won the first PCC election as a Zero Tolerance Policing candidate in 2012 and lost to David Munro four years later.
Mr Munro, standing as an Independent, came fourth in the first-preference votes, winning 53,103 votes. Labour’s James Kaye was fifth, with 40,597.
“I would also like to thank the outgoing commissioner, David Munro, for the dedication and care he has shown in the role for the last five years,” said Mrs Townsend.
Mr Munro said he had no regrets at raising the police share of council tax for a third year, despite opposition from politicians and the public.
“I’ve no regrets at all,” he told the News & Mail. “Surrey Police will benefit from the recruits they are now able to employ, some of whom have already started work.
“There was a £1million black hole in the force’s budget. An unfilled deficit will never go away and will be there for years to come. I have helped fill it by raising the tax by the maximum amount that was legally permissible.”
Mr Munro was expelled by the Conservative Party in 2019 after more than 30 years’ membership, accused of campaigning against party candidates on Brexit-related issues. He was then de-selected by the party as its candidate for the election that was postponed last year because of COVID-19.
But he continued the police and crime commissioner (PCC) role as an independent and stood for re-election under that banner.
For the 2019-20 tax year, he won public support for a £10 a year increase in the policing precept, to pay for up to 100 extra officers and police staff. At the beginning of last year, he persuaded 60% of the 3,000 people who took part in a consultation that they should pay an extra 5% for 2020-21 to fund extra staff.
However, his proposal for a third increase, of around £15, for the current council tax year was rejected by more than half of respondents to a consultation and then by a majority on Surrey’s police and crime panel, which is made up of councillors from across the county’s local authorities.
Mr Munro nevertheless raised the precept, as the panel’s vote was not strong enough to veto his decision.
“Putting up the council tax was perhaps not the right idea during a pandemic, and I know a lot of people are strapped for cash, but it was the right thing to do, as more officers and operationally staff are badly needed,” he said.
The turnout for the PCC election was 38.81% of the county’s electorate, at 334,926, compared with 28.07% for the PCC election in 2016.