Herts Police and Crime Commissioner election: Green Party candidate Matt Fisher will build community spirit if he wins
A former special constable is the Green Party’s candidate in Thursday’s (May 2) Hertfordshire Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) election.
Cllr Matt Fisher says his priority will be “investing understanding and investing resource” into neighbourhood policing if he wins.
A St Albans City and District Council member, Cllr Fisher is his party’s first-ever candidate to contest a PCC election in Hertfordshire.
On the campaign trail in Royston, he said: “I think there’s an understanding that it’s a difficult time to be a police officer.
“The police force isn’t always getting it right.
“When you look at protests, that’s a case in point, where officers are learning on their feet.
“We’ve got things like civil disobedience, which are constantly changing in how they’re being carried out.
“How do we quantify that as a society and as police, and how do those two questions merge to keep everyone safe?”
Cllr Fisher added he wants “candour” from the police service and PCC’s office.
“We’ve got to be far more representative as a police force,” he said.
“We’ve got to understand the community that we police, work in and live in.
“Working with other agencies and groups, youth groups, I think that’s where it’s all at.
“Building community spirit is really key, and being at the heart of that as a police force I think is really, really important to build trust, transparency, respect and dignity.
“The police force is ready to do that and is doing that. Police officers have got a very, very difficult job but they are up for the challenge.”
The Green Party has never before won a PCC seat across England and Wales. “We aren’t as large as the other parties,” said Cllr Fisher.
“In previous years, the cross-county communication and connectivity was probably not as well developed as it was in some of the other parties.
“But we recognise the fact that we are growing as a party – the largest party in East Herts and we have growing numbers in St Albans and Three Rivers.
“In terms of standing as the PCC, this is a part of us gaining credibility in other arenas than the councils where we have seats.
“The Green Party has been around for some time. The perception is that we’re just about the green movement, but we want to set the direction on, and have a manifesto for, more than that – hospitals, policing and so on.”
Cllr Fisher said his pledges are “not about reinventing the wheel”.
He said: “The concept of neighbourhood policing – that’s where policing emanates from. It starts from that.
“I think we need to invest more – more understanding, more resource, more money – and acknowledge it’s a more difficult time to keep us safe.
“If you can’t define the target and the aim [of the PCC’s office], it’s red tape and bureaucracy, and we’ll be going around in circles.
“[But] if you can do that, lots of crimes get prevented and you get people actually being proactive with their police force. It’s not ‘them and us’, it’s that we’re all in it together.”
Cllr Fisher said he had “learnt that experience of being clipped by resources” when he was in the police force in the early 2000s.
He said: “I was a special constable in Essex Police, based out of Colchester, which is a garrison town.
“Talk about under-resourcing, there I was as a 21-year-old police officer on the beat when England won against Germany at the Euros in 2000, one of six [officers] in a town of 100,000 or so.
“It’s really difficult to balance what budget and people we do have.
“After that, I was in the Royal Navy. I learned to fly helicopters in the Fleet Air Arm, and that was an experience which formed my character beyond sea cadets.”
THE OTHER CANDIDATES
Jonathan ASH-EDWARDS (Con) – https://www.bishopsstortfordindependent.co.uk/news/conservative-candidate-will-build-on-lloyd-legacy-if-he-wins-9364124/
Cllr Tom PLATER (Labour) – https://www.bishopsstortfordindependent.co.uk/news/labour-candidate-will-target-shoplifters-if-he-wins-hertford-9364120/
Cllr Sean PRENDERGAST (Lib Dem) – https://www.bishopsstortfordindependent.co.uk/news/lib-dem-candidate-will-prioritise-domestic-violence-if-he-wi-9364111/