Dear editor,
We’re told that the PCC’s new survey is aimed at hearing the views of the Bedford public on policing, but is that really the objective?
Read: Monthly column: A fairer and safer Bedfordshire – a plan for social and criminal justice
The large number of complex questions sounds more like a job application form for a PCC, rather than something designed to encourage the public to respond.
For example, we’re asked if we want to “Double the funding of the Violence Exploitation Reduction Unit?”
I wonder what percentage of the general Bedford public has ever heard of it, knows what its objectives are, how much it currently spends, how successful it currently is, and what doubling the funding would achieve.
I suspect the answer is absolutely zero. In other words, this is a question which cannot be answered by the general public, along with many others on the questionnaire.
My suspicion about this survey is that its real objective is to enable a tick to be placed on a Plan: “Consult with the public – Tick”. Then the PCC will be able to say that the limited number of responses indicates satisfaction with his work (rather than because of the abysmal form).
If people subsequently make some complaint, they will be pointed to the survey and told that 70% of the respondents (all twenty of them, although [I suspect] the PCC won’t say that) wanted ‘X’.
There is one question missing from the form which I suspect large numbers of Bedfordians would love to answer, “Should the PCC be politically appointed by election (so that the party in vogue at the time gets to choose the person), or should we get a professional to do it?”
We must remember PCC elections were started by the Conservatives when they were in vogue and could get to choose their person, now Labour have chosen the current PCC.
Finally, for the sake of transparency, I would like the PCC to publish the number of clicks made by the public to read the questionnaire, compared with the number of completed questionnaires ultimately received.
Dave Neale
Castle Lane
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