A CANDIDATE aiming to represent the people of North East Lincolnshire as the new police and crime commissioner believes he offers a real alternative to the political figureheads also vying for the role.
IT project manager Neil Eyre is standing as an independent candidate for the £70,000-a-year post to directly replace the police authority.
As reported, so far there are six candidates competing for the role in the election on Thursday, November 15.
Official nominations start on October 8 and close on October 19 and every voter will have a first and second choice to mark on their ballot paper.
Mr Eyre is a former Royal Signals serviceman and has worked in Scunthorpe since 2005 as a project manager and telecommunications engineer.
He said the community would play an important role in how he wants to tackle crime.
Antisocial behaviour will be one of the hottest topics and Mr Eyre believes his community-led ideas on tackling it will prove popular.
"I don't like the term antisocial behaviour," he said.
"I think it is about reasonable and unreasonable behaviour.
"When someone's behaviour becomes unreasonable, it is then a case of whether it is criminal or not.
"I think if the community comes together and we give the power to the community, then we can tackle these issues.
"If someone is causing problems because they are drunk and the local shop has sold them the alcohol, then the community comes together and says to the shop they will not use it while they are serving this individual.
"Then they will have to decide whose custom they want the most – that of the community or this one individual.
"You then tell that individual they can only use this service once they start behaving in a reasonable manner."
Mr Eyre said making things difficult for people would make them conform to what is expected of them.
Allowing the community to tackle such issues, he said, would allow police to deal with more serious crime.
He said: "The community is the group best placed to deal with these issues, to free up the police to go after criminals that are doing serious criminal things, such as crimes against people and crimes against property.
"One thing I am wanting to do is increase the transparency of the police.
"I would want all meetings to be held in the public domain so even if members of the public can't contribute, they are able to see what is being discussed."
Mr Eyre also has a novel idea on the voting system.
He said: "I believe on the ballot papers, after the list of candidates' names, there should be a 'none of the above' option.
"If the 'none of the above' option wins, it means people are happy with the current system and everything should remain the same.
"I hope people see that I offer them something different and an alternative solution to voting for one of the political figureheads."
Find out more
For more details, visit www.policeelections.com or www.humberside-pa.org.uk
