SY Police and Crime Commissioner

In 2010, the Coalition Government (Conservative and Liberal-Democratic parties) raised concerns about the perceived lack of accountability of police authorities. Following a study, legislation was drawn up in the form of the 'Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011' to change over to the new role of Police and Crime Commissioner for each area. The Wiki has the basic details. The South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner website explains what they do. See the bottom of this page regarding the election method.

Each Commissioner has a four-year term of office. South Yorks Police and Crime Commissioner (SYPCC) elections take place across the whole of South Yorkshire, centred on Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield. The SYPCC area lies within the administrative boundaries of these authorities, with Barnsley as the lead authority:

• Barnsley Council - (Results of PCC elections appear on the Barnsley site),
• Doncaster Council,
• Rotherham Council,
• Sheffield City Council.

Election Results
For the South Yorkshire region.

PCC Election, May 2021
This election took place on Thursday 6th May 2021, the same day as BMBC elections.
The current PCC electorate for South Yorkshire is: 1,013,939.
Total eligible electorate for the Barnsley borough: 184,558.

Notes for 2021 PCC Election

• Dr Billings was voted in as SY PCC for the third time.
• PCC Election official turnout for South Yorkshire was 30.89%,
• Total 'First Valid' votes = 306,755 (by adding all votes) but the official turnout, 30.89% x SY Electorate, 1,013,939 = 313,206
• 7,379 Rejected votes (figure from Doncaster Council), which was surprisingly high. Were some people making a political gesture?
• By calculation (total votes + rejected), the Turnout would actually be 30.98% instead of the the official 30.89% but which is not enough to matter.
• Turnouts by region: Barnsley: 28.47%, Doncaster 27.82%, Rotherham 29.63 % and Sheffield 30.89%.
• Results published on Monday 10th May, with early results sourced from both Yorkshire Live and Wikipedia.
• The official BMBC 6th May 2021 Elections source was much delayed compared to those above.
• See The Sheffield Star for news article about the result.
• Election material for this PCC election from 'Choose my PCC.' Candidate statements in MP3 and pdf forms.
• David Chinchen is new for this election.
• Dr Billings and Joe Otten are repeat candidates for re-election from 2016.

PCC Election Notes

2016 Notes
The election took place on Thursday 7th May 2016, the same day as BMBC Wards. Although Dr Alan R Billings had been the successful candidate, he made it known that he saw no compelling reason to have Police and Crime Commissioners at all.

The 2016 Candidates were the same candidates as in 2014 except for the addition of Joe Otten.

• David Stewart Allen, (English Democrats)
• Dr Alan Roy Billings, (Labour Party) - The current PCC.
• Gavin Patrick Felton, (UK Independence Party)
• Joe Otten, (Liberal Democrat)
• Ian Walker, (Conservatives)

Dr Billings came to an open meeting in Penistone regarding policing matters. When Penistone people complained about our paying towards policing in Barnsley and not getting enough policing in our own district, he remarked that it was money well-spent because Penistone people go to Barnsley. In reply, several residents remarked that they rarely, if ever, visited Barnsley and found it to be an unattractive place to go to.

• As of June 2016, Dr B had not signed the Ethical Checklist for newly elected PCCs, agreeing to adhere to the seven Nolan Principles.
• See the Choose my PCC site. 2016 Statements (pdf) of candidates, in one document.
• See the Electoral Commission Report on the May 2016 Local and PCC Elections (pdf), dated October 2016, linked from the Electoral Report page.

2014 Notes:
The 2014 by-election was called after Shaun Wright had resigned as the South Yorkshire PCC.
PCC Election day was Thursday 30th October 2014.
80% of votes cast was postal votes.
The figure of 150,406 votes cast above was from BBC Local Politics show, Sunday 2nd November 2014.
Given the low turnout, the cost per voter was about £11.04 or around £1.61 per member of the public.

2014 Candidates:

• David Allen - English Democrats
• Alan Billings - Labour Party
• Jack Clarkson - UK Independence Party
• Ian Walker - Conservative Party

In the Barnsley Area:
Total Ballot Papers Used: 21,801
Rejected Ballot Papers: 355 (of which, voted for more than one first preference: 189)
Valid First preference Votes: 21,446

2012 Notes
The 2012 details were from the BBC and The Guardian (of which both agreed).
All candidates in our area were sponsored by political parties but there was a significant number of independent candidates nationally.
Each candidate's political sponsors paid £5,000 deposit plus election expenses.
The 2012 election cost was given as £100m nationally, which commentators said was equivalent to 3,000 constables.
National turnout was between 12% and 20%; a record low for any British election since WWII.
The media reported general confusion about the purpose and scope of the PCCs.
Votes were cast using the 'Supplementary Voting' System, which many participants thought to be confusing.

2012 Candidates:

• Shaun Wright - Labour
• Jonathan Arnott - UKIP
• Nigel Bonson - Conservatives
• Rob Teal - Lib-Dems

2012 Rejected Votes shown above were not disclosed in official figures but are my own calculation, subtracting 'valid votes' from 'all ballot papers' - but this figure should be taken with caution. There were unusual factors in this election which might have influenced the Rejected Votes figure. These might be:

• An unfamiliar 'Supplementary Voting' System.
• A breakdown of Rotherham's rejected papers suggests that most of them might have been by mistake.
• Talk in the media about people deliberately spoiling their papers in protest against the election of PCCs.

See also: 'First Police Commissioners Chosen amid Turnout Concerns' - BBC Article

The Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011
A law was passed in Sept 2011 under the Coalition Government of the Conservative and Liberal Democratic parties and required a Police and Crime Commissioner to be established in each of the 41 police force areas in England and Wales (outside London). The PCC role was intended to replace the existing cross-party Police Committees and would attract a salary of around £65,000 to £100,000 per annum in 2012.

The first PCC elections were held on Thursday 15th November 2012. The 'Supplementary Voting' system was chosen, largely at the request of the Lib-Dems. As a new system, there was general confusion about the role (and its necessity) and the unfamiliar voting system.

The 'Supplementary Voting' System for PCC Elections

Stage 1
The first preference votes are counted. If a candidate receives more than 50% of first preference votes, then he or she is elected and the result is declared. If no candidate receives more than 50% of the first preference votes, then the two highest-voted candidates go forward to stage 2.
Stage 2
The second preference votes are then checked for the eliminated candidate(s). Any second preference votes for the remaining two candidates are added to the votes they received in stage 1. The candidate with the highest number of votes after adding together the results from stages 1 and 2 is elected, and the result declared.

The South Yorkshire PCC area boundary was defined by the administrative regions of these four SY authorities:
Barnsley Council, Doncaster Council, Rotherham Council and Sheffield City Council.

• The Bite-sized Guide to Police and Crime Commissioners (pdf).
• PCCs - One Year On (pdf)