The police were run by politically-selected individuals long before there were elected Commissioners. Two-thirds of the old Police Authorities which they replaced were appointed by the county and district councils who seemed to carve posts up in smoke-filled rooms.
While I agree somewhat that police shouldn't be political, elected Commissioners is better than such stitch-ups and sinecures.
Commissioner Betts (Ind, 2012-2016) replied and also held public meetings in each major town at least annually, in addition to various other public events. Commissioner Greene (Con, 2016-2021) never replied and I never saw him.Whenever I've e-mailed my PCC asking questions (rather than just comment) I've never had a response.
Regarding the "invalidate" protest: the number of spoiled ballot papers is cited by Minister Patel as a reason to change to the less fair winner-takes-all voting system.
THE ABOVE MESSAGE HAS BEEN SILENTLY CHANGED BY THE MODERATORS.