William Morris to stand again in Police and Crime elections
I take this opportunity to let the readers of the Exeter Daily know that I shall be standing as candidate for the post of Police and Crime Commissioner in the May 5th elections.
I will stand again as an independent candidate because I believe this is not an appropriate post to be held by someone with an allegiance to a political party. I have a number of key policies which will be announced and explained in a series of videos the first of which are already online. My policies are outlined here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5S3-u5Gi0Dk
As regards Exeter itself, one key problem is that of alcohol related violent crime. If you take Exeter City Centre by way of example, in the latest figures for the past year Exeter had 296 violent crimes resulting in injury which compares to 286 in the previous year and 11 rapes as compared to just 3 in the previous year. This trend must be stopped. One of my principle concerns is the wellbeing of the vulnerable, the very young and the very old, in which context it is worth noting that one third of rape victims in Devon and Cornwall are under sixteen. This is horrifying. Full crime statistics for Devon and Cornwall can be found on this link: https://www.devon-cornwall.police.uk/media/303141/crime-report.pdf and my policies in regard to the vulnerable are outlined here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXj-iESoH3Y .
One key approach I intend to adopt is to introduce zero tolerance policing in areas where violent crime is not reduced. These would be selected areas so we are not talking about all of Devon and Cornwall all of the time. We do not have the resources to do that. Nor is this policy unnecessarily draconian. We will introduce a community payback scheme similar to that piloted in Brixham a few years ago which will reduce numbers of teenagers going through the criminal justice system. For more on this see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smvE8LqZc2k .
The other issue of concern to the public is that of drug use. The prevalence of on street drug use frightens people and it is no use pretending otherwise. One of the key human rights is that of freedom from fear. I was always much taken by Roosevelt's four freedoms, freedom from want, freedom of expression, freedom of religion and freedom from fear. These are the bedrock of our society, of any fair society. I note that drugs policy in the South West is failing. I will set up a detox centre for under 21s and will select one or two areas to test radical new drugs enforcement policies and was indeed considering St Ives in Cornwall and Exeter as possibilities. Whoever is elected, given the fact that the Devon and Cornwall Police are headquartered in Exeter, will be spending a great deal of time in this city. For more reflections from me on the drugs issue see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YF3T9pbCItU .
If you wish to see more on my policies then you will find them outlined in still greater detail on my blog https://southwestjustice.wordpress.com/ . What is clear is that we need a new approach. I will deliver that. I hope you will consider giving me your vote on May 5th.
