what are police and crime commissioners

Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) are elected officials in England and Wales whose main job is to oversee the local police force, set policing priorities, and hold the chief constable to account on behalf of the public. They do not run day‑to‑day investigations but control the overall strategy and budget for policing in their area.

What PCCs Actually Are

PCCs were created to replace the old police authorities and to make policing more directly answerable to voters rather than to committees. Each PCC covers a police force area in England and Wales (outside London’s special arrangements) and is chosen in local elections, usually held on the same day as other local polls.

• They are elected by local residents to represent community priorities on crime and policing.

• They serve fixed terms and can be voted out if the public is unhappy with crime performance or priorities.

• In some places, the role is combined with oversight of fire services, becoming a Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner (PFCC).

Core Powers And Duties

The law gives PCCs a set of core, fairly heavyweight responsibilities.

• They must secure an “efficient and effective” police force in their area and hold the chief constable to account for delivering this.

• They appoint (and, if necessary, can dismiss) the chief constable of the force.

• They set the overall policing budget, including the local council tax precept for policing, and decide how that money is allocated.

• They draw up a multi‑year Police and Crime Plan that sets local priorities, such as focusing on antisocial behaviour, burglary, or violence against women and girls.

• They work with councils, criminal justice partners, and community groups to join up services like victim support and community safety projects.

PCCs are expected to swear an oath of impartiality, promising to serve all communities in their area and not interfere unlawfully in operational policing decisions.

What They Can’t Do (Operational Line)

A big part of the debate around PCCs is where their power stops.

• PCCs decide what the priorities are and how resources are broadly used, but the chief constable decides how officers are deployed and how individual investigations are run.

• Official guidance and the “Policing Protocol” say PCCs must not “fetter” the operational independence of the police or try to direct specific arrests, investigations, or patrol patterns.

• There have been real‑world tensions when some PCCs have tried to push too far into day‑to‑day decisions, which former policing leaders have criticised as overreach.

Accountability And Oversight

PCCs are not left entirely to police themselves; there are checks around them.

• Each area has a Police and Crime Panel made up mainly of local councillors that scrutinises the PCC’s decisions.

• Panels can question the PCC in public, review the Police and Crime Plan, and in some cases veto the proposed precept level or chief constable appointment (though they need a two‑thirds majority for this).

• PCCs also face the ballot box: if crime is going up or priorities feel out of touch, voters can remove them at the next election.

Why PCCs Are A Big Talking Point

Since they were introduced in 2012, PCCs have been a recurring topic in political debate, think‑tank reports and media commentary.

• Supporters argue PCCs give the public a single, visible figure to blame or praise over crime, rather than a vague committee, and that they make policing more responsive to local concerns.

• Critics say turnout in PCC elections is often low and many people still are not sure what PCCs do, raising questions about how strong the democratic mandate really is.

• Commentators also note a mixed record: some PCCs are very active on issues like violence reduction or victim services, while others have attracted controversy for political grandstanding or clashes with chief constables.

In forum‑style discussions, you’ll often see people say things like: “I never even knew we had a PCC until polling cards arrived,” or “We finally have someone to pressure when the local police ignore antisocial behaviour.” These contrasting reactions mirror the wider policy debate.

At the moment, PCC elections and their performance continue to feature in UK political coverage and public policy analysis, especially when national crime trends or high‑profile local policing failures are under the spotlight.

TL;DR: Police and Crime Commissioners are elected figures who set local policing priorities, hire and fire the chief constable, and control the policing budget, but they are not supposed to run individual investigations or day‑to‑day operations. They are meant to make policing more democratically accountable, though opinions on how well that works are sharply divided.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.