Gloucestershire PCC election – “Judge me on my record” says independent candidate Martin Surl

This time Jamie Wiseman speaks to current PCC Martin Surl, who is fighting for re-election as an independent candidate.

“I want people to judge me on my record”, says Gloucestershire’s incumbent Police and Crime Commissioner.

Martin Surl is standing for re-election on two main principles. First - what he has achieved over the past four years, and secondly, that politics has no place in policing.

“There has been so much progress made,” he says as we settle down in his office in the new police HQ at Waterwells.

“Looking back over these four years I’m really quite pleased with the state of the force.”

“I think that when I took over in 2012 I stabilised the constabulary. We’ve overseen a shakeup of the police brought the force through unprecedented budget cuts.

“Every year I’ve been in office I’ve had to reduce costs by £5 million. Despite this we’ve also made huge improvements.

“One of my manifesto pledges was to put the voluntary and community sector on the top table. I think we’ve achieved that amazingly well.

“I also set up the Commissioner’s Fund which supports and works with over 140 different organisations across the county.

“We’ve also worked with 240 project to try and reduce the cycle of harm and reoffending. I think that’s been tremendous achievement.

“I made 40 promises in my last manifesto and I’ve completed 39 of them. The last thing to do is to set up the Commissioners Forum – which I will certainly complete if I am re-elected.”

He also points to a new ICT strategy and the new estate in Quedgeley as signs of the force’s development under his leadership.

“We’ve re-opened Cheltenham police station and retained and revamped many others,” he said.

“There is so much we’ve done on a logistical side. And this has all helped bring crime down in Gloucestershire.

“In the South West we are the only force to see a reduction. Even if it was marginal, crime is down.

“And all of this has been done during an era of huge and unprecedented budget cuts. I think we’ve come through the most difficult times in the force’s recent history.

“It’s been tough, but I’m proud of what we did.”

During his time he raised the council tax by the full two per cent in the first two years, followed by a freeze in his third year, and a 1.2 per cent rise last year.

“I had the option to put it up by two per cent every year, and I faced some criticism for not doing that,” he says.

“But my principle has always been – if I can achieve what I and the chief constable want without raising the precept, then we should do that.

“I never out the burden on the public unless I needed to.”

Turning from the past to the future, he showed me a copy of his 17-page manifesto, which sets out his full spending and operational priorities.

Mr Surl says this document is based on developing the priorities that have been the foundation of his police and crime plan for the last three and a half years.

With budgets likely to be ring-fenced until the end of the decade, this time round the PCC envisions a more stable financial period than his first stint in the job.

Keen to grow the force instead of cut it, he has pledged to bring about a sustainable increase in the size of the force.

“I’ve made provision for another 40 officers over the next four years, plus a pledge to double the size of the Special Constabulary,” he says.

“Those officers are desperately needed. This will mean more police officers on the beat.

“But this will a gradual growth of course, as you never know what might happen just around the corner with this government.”

To achieve these aims though, he said he would consider another two per cent increase if that is what was needed.

But, he stresses, this would be based on a year on year assessment.

Moving on to other financial issues, he said further savings could be made to make the force more efficient. They key for this, he says, is through information technology.

“I am currently in the advanced stages of setting up an ICT platform between Gloucestershire, Avon and Summerset and Wiltshire,” he said.

“The government funded independent research has found we could collectively save up to £40 million a year. That is big money.

“This can then be put back into front line policing and paying for better equipment.”

On the theme of technology, Mr Surl then turned to another key part of his manifesto - fighting cybercrime.

“Two years ago I made this a priority for policing. For our size, I think we are now one of, if not the most advanced force in the county in fighting cybercrime.

“But there is still more work to do. We have to start policing the internet highway just like we do Gloucestershire’s road network.

“It’s so important to tackle this. A huge amount of crime has moved online in the last decade.

“It’s not a remote crime. It affects everyone young and old, from online grooming and hacking to sexual blackmail, cyberbullying, child sexual exploitation and fraud.”

Other key priorities that the PCC has set out are to tackle growing concerns around knife crime and domestic abuse.

As a former senior police officer with over 30 years’ experience, Mr Surl thinks he has proven he is the right man to fulfil these pledges.

During these three decades he’s worked as a bobby on the beat here in Stroud and much further afield.

This even included stint working with the Estonian police force to update their system from the Russian system to the British one.

“My record speaks for itself. People can be confident that I know what I’m doing,” he says.

“My other two opponents say they have run a blue-lights service. They haven’t. Neither of them have run Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service on a day to day basis.

“I am the only candidate with direct experience of being the Commissioner or a front line police officer.”

Turning to rural policing, he said that while Bobbies on the beat played a big part, understanding the communities was key.

“We have to work on building and strengthening these communities,” he said, “and one way to do this is to work closely with organisations at their heart.

“In Stroud for example, we have been supporting the Door Youth Club. This organisation does amazing work at keeping young people safe and out of crime.

“This is one great part of being PCC. I don’t just oversee the police. Also I commission other services to make sure that the county is safe.

“During my time as PCC I set up the Commissioner’s Fund, which has given 1 per cent of the budget – just over a million pounds a year – to help with funding for the community and volunteer sector.

“This has helped around 240 different organisations across the county.

“I’m the only candidate that will commit to continuing that if I’m elected. Neither of my opponents have said they will maintain this initiative.

Another issue, he said, was the “disproportionately high” amount of people that die in road crashes on the rural roads.

“We’re making huge efforts to make that safer. Another scheme that’s been created on my watch is the Safe and Social Driving co-ordinator.

Because of that around 7000 young people aged between 16 and 18 have been to the drive for life program to try to educate them to drive more safely.”

What Gloucestershire’s PCC stands for more than anything else though, is keeping party politics out of policing.

The election four years ago also saw Mr Surl run as an independent candidate – beating rivals from three main political parties to the top job.

And going up against both a Labour and Conservative challengers this time, he is determined to do the same.

“I don’t think party politics has any place in policing,” he said.

“Having a political-minded commissioner will mean conflicting loyalties.

“My opponents are true blue and true red politicians. There is nothing wrong with that.

“But for them to say their politics wouldn’t affect their actions as PCC is false. Will Windsor-Clive has said on a number of occasions that he will bring ‘Conservative values’ to the police.

“It’s unbelievable. If that isn’t political I don’t know what is.

“Politicians of a party nature will always take the party line and obey the party whip.

“Policing should be for the people of Gloucestershire. So I think people want and candidate independent from politics.”

Giving me his parting shot, Mr Surl said he wanted to build on the foundations he’d laid over the last four years in office.

“Now is not the time for a change of direction,” he said.

“It would be very disruptive after just four years. My plan is mid-flow right now. I have so much more work to do.

“I want to bring further stability and continuity and build on the foundations that I’ve set.

“By all means, if people think I’ve done a bad job then they can vote me out.

“But please, look back at what we’ve done, what we’ve achieved and how far we’ve come despite the circumstances. I think I’ve done a good job.”

• Click here for an interview with Conservative candidate Will-Windsor-Clive.
• Stay posted for Labour challenger Barry Kirby's full interview over the next few days.