A FORMER police officer from St Helens is vying to become the next Police and Crime Commissioner for Merseyside.

Malcolm Webster is standing as the candidate for Reform UK in the Merseyside PCC elections to be held next Thursday, May 6.

The vote for the new PCC, who will succeed Jane Kennedy in the role, was delayed for 12 months due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The PCC for Merseyside make the force is run effectively and act as the public’s voice on policing issues in the region and hold the police to account.

PCCs are responsible for the totality of policing and ensure the police are answerable to the communities they serve. They also have the power to hire and fire the Chief Constable.

Mr Webster, who grew up in Thatto Heath and has lived in St Helens for most of his life, said he would seek a return to “core policing”.

“We want a return to normal policing, a return to the situation where you have policing by consent,” he said to the Star.

“Police officers actually on the streets doing the job of police officers. Policing without fear or favour with the consent of the public.

“How many years have you heard politicians say this and they’ve never delivered because they just say what the public want them to hear.

“Paying lip service to the public is wrong, the public are the employers of the police so it’s about time the police service stopped bowing to politicians and started policing for the benefit of the Merseyside public.”

Mr Webster is standing for Reform UK, which was founded as the Brexit Party in 2018 and renamed in January.

READ > All elections candidates running in St Helens

Mr Webster, who spent 32 years in the police starting in 1980, added: “When you’re out and about, how often do you see a bobby walking the street? I haven’t seen one for years, that’s embarrassing.

“What I want to see is a return to the core policing. The police absolutely rely on the public for information, 90-plus per cent of the intelligence police act upon comes from the public.”

Mr Webster said he would seek to strike a balance on the use of police resources and cease the recording of ‘non-crime hate incidents’.

He said: “We’ve got to get that balance between what we’re doing and why we’re doing it.

“One of the things which we don’t agree with is the recording of ‘non-crime incidents’

“We are going to tell them not to, not that they shouldn’t because that still gives them the option. It’s a waste of time and it’s a waste of resources.

“I’m coming at it from a completely new perspective. I really do want to challenge everything that is done. The increase in the precept on council tax, I want them to justify that. What is it used for?

He added that he would address increasing ‘centralisation’ in the force and enable officers to remain in their communities.

“I’d start looking at buildings. At the moment we’ve spent a fortune on a new headquarters in Liverpool, what have we got everywhere else?” said Mr Webster, who stood as the Brexit Party candidate in the 2019 general election for St Helens North.

“Almost all the small police stations have all gone and everything has become centralised. When you centralise things, you’re taking people away from the area they need to be.

“We need to start looking at how can those police officers remain in the communities they serve?

“I think (St Helens not having a custody suite) is a massive issue, a police officer arrests somebody in the town centre how far have they got to go with a prisoner onboard?

“Everything is getting sucked away into hubs. I know that they’re trying to save money.

“But ultimately policing is not about saving money.”

The other candidates standing in next week’s election for the Merseyside PCC are Emily Spurrell (Labour); Kristofor Brown (Liberal Democrats) and Bob Teesdale (Conservatives).