The shock resignation from the Tory party of Tony Hogg, the region’s police and crime commissioner, should be a clear message to voters in next week’s election, says independent candidate Bob Spencer.
Mr Spencer has called for politics to be excluded from the role and says the commissioner must be free to speak and free to act and not be controlled by a party whip.
Mr Hogg, who was the first PCC for Devon and Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly elected in 2012, is standing down but says he has been angered by the government’s refusal to publicise the election, which tended to...
Farming families and much of Devon and Cornwall’s rural communities have been abandoned by the police.
That was the view of retired senior police officer Bob Spencer after he visited communities on Dartmoor during his campaign to become the next police and crime commissioner for the region.
Cuts to funding have meant the closure of police stations and reductions in the number of officers which is leaving vast swathes of countryside without police cover.
Margaret and Mike Rogers, who keep 200 sheep near Widdecome on Dartmoor, say they no longer bother to report...
THE police force and its relationship with the military, with its massive presence in the South West, should be a key issue for the new police and crime commissioner, according independent candidate Bob Spencer.
Mr Spencer, a retired acting Assistant Chief Constable in Devon and Cornwall, who is campaigning to become the next PCC, has been meeting with a variety of military contacts to discuss his hopes of refreshing the Military Covenant signed in 2012 between local authorities and the armed forces.
The Covenant recognises that the whole nation has a moral obligation to...
The Home Secretary is actively campaigning to erode the independence of the British Police, claims former Devon and Cornwall police chief Bob Spencer.
Mr Spencer, who is standing as an independent candidate in the Police and Crime Commissioner elections, has slammed Theresa May for her plans, which he claims will mean the loss of more police stations and more officers on the beat.
He said: “She is proposing to give the commissioner powers over the fire service, prisons, schools and probation.
“All this despite the advice of a Home Affairs Select Committee which...
EAST Devon retired police officer Bob Spencer has won the influential support of a top Plymouth businessman in his bid to become the next Police and Crime Commissioner for Devon and Cornwall.
Charles Howeson, an acknowledged expert on South West economic regeneration, has been openly critical of the politicisation of the role of commissioner.
Only last month he challenged the Home Secretary for her endorsement of the Conservative candidate for the role.
In the run up to the May 5th election Mr Howeson has thrown his considerable influence behind the independent...
A former police chief is announcing today (Monday) that he will run for the office of Devon and Cornwall’s Police and Crime Commissioner, over fears that government austerity measures are putting at risk the most vulnerable members of area’s population.
Bob Spencer, who served in Merseyside and Devon and Cornwall police forces for over 30 years, retired in 2009 as Acting Assistant Chief Constable for Devon and Cornwall.
Bob’s campaign for the post of Police and Crime Commissioner is motivated by his deep concern over massive government cuts to both policing and adult social...
