DR EDMUND DAVIES is a St Clears Town Councillor and former Dyfed County Councillor, of which authority he is a former Chair.
Dr Davies has been mayor of St Clears a number of times and says he is dismayed at the cut in services within the town. Last week he announced his candidacy for the position of Dyfed-Powys Police and Crime Commissioner as an independent.
The Herald asked Dr Davies why he had put himself forward for that post.
Dr Davies told us: “What’s happened over the last couple of years is that the public and the police are fed up of the closure of police stations, CCTV coverage ending, and there was a furore at the loss of the police helicopter. People are up in arms about these things, but they don’t want politics involved in the police force.
“Party politics have never been involved in the police force and I hope it will be eradicated. Our police authorities throughout Britain have always been non political.”
We asked Dr Davies about his response to the closure of St Clears Police Station and whether he was concerned about a rise in crime in the town: “I objected to the closure and I wanted to go a bit further and send a stronger message. What has actually happened is that our police station in St Clears has been run down. It is in a dreadful state. The walls have been hacked out on the outside, it is terrible.”
Reflecting on what has happened in St Clears, Dr Davies said: “The banks have all gone and now the police station is to close.
“The area is now a ripe target for these burglaries and we had five in one evening. Crime has not only increased in St Clears but generally throughout the county. The farming community has been hit. Farm gates have been stolen. There has been sheep rustling. If you talk to police officers of all ranks they are very concerned that CCTV has been removed and small crime has increased. CCTV is crime prevention if these people know that the cameras are about they are more apprehensive.”
We asked Dr Davies whether he thought there there might be a link between crime and anti social behaviour and a lack of facilities for young people. He was quick to jump to St Clears’ youngsters defence: “We have a good leisure centre and a rugby and soccer club. There is a probation service in Carmarthen and social service. Youngsters are well catered for in the area. These people who did these savage burglaries are not people from St Clears.”
What, we asked, would be Dr Davies’s priorities for the first twelve months if he were to win the election: “I would like CCTV cameras which have been removed to be restored. I would like the public’s confidence in the police and crime commissioner fully restored on a non political basis.
“The police and crime commissioner has to work with all the authorities in the area and very often the public. My impression is that the morale of the Dyfed Powys Police force is low. I know a number of officers of all ranks and they confide in me that they are totally fed up with what has happened in the last few years. They want a change obviously.”
He continued: “When it comes to party politics they don’t want to be involved and should never be involved. In fact my namesake Lord Edmund Davies increased the morale of the police force by reforming its pay structure and the conditions of service. Younger officers are benefitting from what he did. We have got to get the morale of the police force and the confidence of the public restored.”
With savage cuts being handed down to local authorities by the UK Government we asked Dr Davies where the money would come from to fulfill his ambitions as Police and Crime Commissioner. He responded: “Obviously there will be certain restraints. The Home Office controls the budget in the main. The people would be prepared to pay 30p or 40p per week for the provision of police walking the beat. It would be a small percentage on the council tax.
“I am not interested in party politics and the majority of the public are not interested in having a political Police and Crime Commissioner.” In light of his comments, we asked Dr Davies whether or not he thought the position of Police and Crime Commissioner was necessary.
He replied: “It is an Act of Parliament laid down by central government that Police Commissioners are elected. It is nothing to do with the public and I don’t think there is much appetite for having the posts. But we have them.
“What is a cause for worry is that a couple of the parties who were totally against the creation of a Police and Crime Commissioners have now put candidates forward. That is hypocrisy. They want both to get rid of the post and claim it for their own party’s candidates.I would say that that is both hypocritical and politically suicidal.”
We asked Dr Davies what he thought of the existing Police and Crime Commissioner Christopher Salmon. Basing his answer on what he said he had been told by serving officers, Dr Davies told The Herald: “There has been a lot of unhappiness about how he has handled the situation within the police force. They are not happy with his attitude towards them. It has caused a lot of unease within the police force.”
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