Welsh Lib Dems announce their Police and Crime Commissioner candidates

The Welsh Liberal Democrats are pleased to announce their four candidates for the up-and-coming Police and Crime Commissioners in Wales.

• Callum Littlemore will stand in South Wales

• Glyn Preston in Dyfyd-Powys

• John Miller in Gwent

• Lisa Wilkins in North Wales

The party is standing on a platform including:

• Putting a strong focus on community policing and working with local communities to help tackle the causes of crime.
• Campaigning around civil liberties, including commitments to ban the use of facial recognition technology, investing in mental health support services.
• Opposing Conservative attempts to restrict the right to protest.
• Pledging to campaign to scrap the roles, devolve justice to the Senedd and returning powers back to local police forces.

Calum Littlemore who will be contesting the South Wales Police force region said:

“For too long our policing been focused on reacting to crime, not preventing it or making people feel safe.

“It’s time to rethink the way we do policing if we want to rebuild trust between the police and the communities they are meant to protect. We cannot continue to have an ‘us and them’ mentality and the police should not be something we have to fear.

“The Welsh Liberal Democrats would invest in community policing, ensuring we recruit PCSOs and Police Officers locally and embed them within communities, provide extra funding for community outreach and support services – including local youth groups, and work to right the systemic racism and injustice that plagues our criminal justice system.”

The Party has also reiterated its opposition to these roles which they say have done nothing to reduce crime, reassure the public or improve accountability amongst the police.

Lisa Wilkins who will be contesting North Wales said:

“These roles were created by the Conservatives in Westminster and have done little to catch the public’s imagination, or their perceptions of the police and the vast majority of Wales will struggle to name any PCC yet alone their own.

“It’s time these offices were scrapped once and for all.”