I don't want anyone in three years thinking 'who is he?'
| Published date | 27 May 2021 |
John Dwyer, who has held the role previously, was elected on May 6, ahead of three other candidates.
Elections were due to take place in 2020 but, due to coronavirus, they were postponed until 2021.
As a PCC, Mr Dwyer will be tasked with ensuring Cheshire's police force is run as effectively and efficiently as possible.
We sat down with Mr Dwyer and conducted a Facebook Live interview in which we put our own questions to him, as well as those sent in from the public.
The PCC spoke with us at length about a number of topics and issues relating to Cheshire, including knife crime and fox hunting.
We asked Mr Dwyer whether he considered the new role of the PCC a success.
He said: "I don't think it is relatively new now. It's been in eight years, nine years.
"We really ought to be in a situation now where we start accepting the role of police and crime commissioner as routine.
"It does replace the old police authority which was in place until 2012 when I came in as the first PCC.
"That police authority was very effective, but it consisted of 17 people, most of whom were elected councillors from the local authorities around Cheshire and there were three independent people or magistrates.
"From 2012, as members of the public, you've had one focus to approach with your concerns about policing.
"Now, the role of PCC isn't to do operational policing, the chief constable is in charge of that. The PCC commissions the chief constable to provide the policing service for the public of Cheshire.
"But what you can do as a member of the public, if you're not satisfied with the service you're not getting in your local area having spoken to your local police service, you can then approach the PCC.
"Let me know what's going on. Tell me what it is that you're wanting for your police service that you're not getting."
Mr Dwyer was asked how aware of the existence of the PCC the general public are, and if they know what the role entails.
He said: "I don't think they do frankly. With my team, we've been talking about this this week, we're going to be doing certain things over the next three years.
"What I intend doing over the next three years is ensuring that there's big public engagement programmes going on across the county.
"And talks like this. I really welcome this sort of a chat because it enables me to discuss what I'm doing with the public and I don't want anybody in three years time...
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