Councillor Edna Murphy, Liberal Democrat candidate for Police and Crime Commissioner in 2024, has reacted to the government’s announcement that PCC roles will be abolished, with powers transferred to Mayors.
Murphy said, “The Police and Crime Commissioner idea never worked. Few people knew who the Commissioner was or what they did, and all the system achieved was to create the false impression that the Police had come under political control.”
She added a warning about the new system, saying, “But transferring the Police and Crime Commissioner’s powers to a remote mayor, who already has too much power and precious little knowledge of the county outside Peterborough, is, if anything even worse.”
Calls for local accountability
Murphy suggested an alternative, more locally focused approach: “Instead, it would be better to consider a much more inclusive and locally based system of accountability.
“For example, we had this to an extent in the old Police Committee, made up of councillors from across the county together with local magistrates, to whom the Chief Constable would be directly accountable.
“It meant the Police’s budget was based on deep knowledge of what was happening in the criminal justice system in all parts of Cambridgeshire. Centralising more and more power in one person is an unwelcome import from the USA and will make policing even more remote and unaccountable.”
Campaign promises in 2024
During her 2024 campaign, Murphy highlighted her priorities for policing in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. She said, “The police need to do more on persistent problems such as sexual assault and on new priorities such as fraud. On both of those, victims currently report to the police just one in six or one in seven of the crimes they experience, which shows just how low victims’ confidence is in the service. That needs massively to improve.”
She also pledged, “I’ll fight not just for fair funding for Cambridgeshire policing but also for smarter spending, moving away from policies that don’t work to reduce crime, such as short prison sentences for non-violent offenders, and towards solutions that truly make us safer by making it less likely that any of us will be victims of crime in the future.
“I’ll champion effective crime reduction strategies such as restorative justice, tackling prolific offenders, and evidence-driven community policing. Above all, I’ll ensure that the police are proactive and treat victims with respect, not just as statistics.”
2024 election result
Despite her campaign, Murphy received 41,984 votes in the 2024 PCC election, coming third behind Darryl Preston (Con), who was re-elected with 61,688 votes, and Anna Smith (Lab), who received 58,304 votes.
