08:35 Wednesday 18th July 2012
Peterborough Breakfast Show
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire
PAUL STAINTON: A magistrate is to stand for election to become the Police and Crime Commissioner in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. Paul Bullen, who sits at Huntingdon Magistrates Court, has been announced as the UKIP candidate for the election in November. We can talk to him now. .. Why? Why are you standing?
PAUL BULLEN: We as a party, as you probably know, do not believe that we need Police and Crime Commissioners. We believe in an elected authority, or committee, to oversee the running of the police.
PAUL STAINTON: Well that’s a bit silly then, isn’t it? There’s no point standing.
PAUL BULLEN: It is. But unfortunately if we don’t stand, very much like standing for the European Parliament, then you’ll going to end up with very much the same as you have now, which is the Lib/Lab/Com running everything from Westminster, which we don’t believe in. We believe that the police should be answerable to the local community.
PAUL STAINTON: So you’re running for something you don’t believe in.
PAUL BULLEN: Well we believe in an elected authority to oversee the running of the police. Unfortunately the current government decided it would be run by one person, and therefore we do need to stand.
PAUL STAINTON: So what are you going to do when you get on the inside? Are you going to bring it down from the inside?
PAUL BULLEN: Well personally I would like to see an elected authority run the police, not an appointed authority. But we have to do what we have to do. And I’d like to see a presence, a police presence, on our streets, a more visible police presence, to deter crime rather than to try and catch criminals once they’ve already committed the crimes.
PAUL STAINTON: So you can enforce UKIP’s thoughts and policies a little bit through the police, and move things around. Because you’ll be in charge if you get elected.
PAUL BULLEN: Well hopefully. The full terms and conditions of our position haven’t been published yet by the Government. And with only a couple of months to go before the electios, it could end up being somewhat of a fiasco anyway.
PAUL STAINTON: Well nobody knows about it, do they? I don’t think anybody cares about it.
PAUL BULLEN: A lot of the public do not know that they’re going to be electing a Police and Crime Commissioner on 15th November. No, you’re right.
PAUL STAINTON: What other changes would you make? More police on the beat, what else would we see across Cambridgeshire? What would change?
PAUL BULLEN: Certainly I’d like to see a visible police presence. I’d like to see us go more towards a zero-tolerance policing, and to put out a deterrent there. I’d like Cambridgeshire to ne a no-go area for criminals, and not to have no-go areas where the police, you never see them.
PAUL STAINTON: How are you going to do that with less police?
PAUL BULLEN: Well less police possibly. The running of the police ..
PAUL STAINTON: No no no. Probably.
PAUL BULLEN: Probably, in the current financial climate, yes. The running of the police force will still be the responsibility of the Chief Constable. But hopefully, as the Police and Crime Commissioner, I’d take a lot of pressure off the police constables, and be the interface between the public and the police themselves, enabling the police to get on with their job, and me to look after the administration between the police and the public.
PAUL STAINTON: There’s been plenty of talk about outsourcing as well. Would you be happy for G4S to take over some services in Cambridgeshire?
PAUL BULLEN: Personally no. I wouldn’t. I believe that the police should be run by the police for the people. And we should not be sub-contracting out to private companies where their hierarchy can make a profit.
PAUL STAINTON: What if it’s cheaper though? We’d save some money. keep more coppers.
PAUL BULLEN: Yes but if G4S can do the job cheaper than we currently do it, then surely reorganisation within the current police force would be able to do it for the same price. Because they would not be out to make a profit.
PAUL STAINTON: Paul, we wish you well with your campaign to get a job you don’t really want. And we’ll see how it goes come November. Other candidates, by the way, for the new Police Commissioner’s role .. include Independent Ansar Ali, Labour candidate Ed Murphy, and for the Conservatives, Sir Graham Bright.
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