Chris Wright is standing as an Independent candidate for Gwent Police and Crime Commissioner. If you are intending to stand to be Police and Crime Commissioner where you live, you can submit your own Candidate Statement, so get in touch at Editor@TopOfTheCops.com. Others are on the way, and we are looking for 400 words, and a photo of you to which you have rights.

I am standing as a true Independent candidate because to give control of policing to politicians is quite simply wrong.

Ending last October I gained thirty years experience in policing; from beginning to end committed to community policing but also specialising in the planning and logistics of specialist police plans and community safety plans. My thirty years of policing was working on the 'front-line' – being so proud that I spent all that time in uniform and in DIRECT contact with the community – indeed my penultimate duty was a night duty and I know very few officers and no other candidate can make that claim.

My in-depth knowledge of community and specialised policing, familiarity in talking with all officers from Constables to the Chief Constable, makes me the perfect candidate to be able to analyse the direction, policies and strategies of the Gwent Constabulary and decide whether,

a) the direction and strategy will work, and

b) whether they are in the right direction for the communities of Gwent, and then

i. be able to cut crime and deliver an effective and efficient police service within our force area;

ii. be personally responsible for consulting with the public of Gwent to set their policing priorities;

iii. personally ensure local and national priorities are suitably funded by setting a budget and the local precept;

iv. hold the Chief Constable to account for the performance of Gwent Police;

v. ensure our community's needs are met as effectively as possible.

As your first Police and Crime Commissioner I will open a full and frank dialogue with partners, such as Victim Support, local Councils and the Probation Service, to ensure that once a victim is identified or an offender is brought to justice then a whole gambit of actions will take place to support or reassure the victim and drive home the repulsion our communities feel about criminals and their actions.

Finally I am not a political candidate nor have I ever been a political party member. I have not asked for 'back-room' party support – like some other so-called 'Independents' – and I want to assure everyone that my full-time goal is to maintain the great community work and crime reductions the Gwent Police have shown recently even after the cuts sent this way by Politicians and successive Governments.

http://www.chris4gwentpcc.co.uk/