Former cop may stand for police commissioner job
A FORMER policeman and member of the UK Independence Party says he is "weighing up his options" before announcing whether he will stand for election to become Derbyshire's first police and crime commissioner.
David Gale said he was in the process of sifting through paperwork provided by the Home Office before deciding whether or not to apply for the £75,000-a-year role.
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David Gale
Mr Gale stood as an independent candidate in the Derby North constituency, losing out to Labour's Chris Williamson in the 2010 general election.
He said he would know in "two to three weeks" if he would stand for UKIP in the election.
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He said: "The issue is the amount of information I've been sent to read through and I'm still only about halfway through.
"Bearing in mind this has only been provided to prospective candidates in the past two to three weeks, I'm surprised that those who put themselves forward did so without reading through it."
The public will go to the polls on November 15 to vote in the first commissioner.
The elected post will see one person in 40 of the 43 force areas in England and Wales voted in.
They will replace the existing police authority and will have the power to set the police budget, council tax precept and hire and fire the chief constable.
There is currently a two-horse race in Derbyshire between Labour's Alan Charles and the Conservative Party candidate Simon Spencer.
Mr Gale said: "We have only recently had the full brief, which is provided to candidates by the constabulary's chief officers.
"If I do decide to stand, I will have the operational experience of being a former policeman to back me for my viability for the role."
It was also reported yesterday that another former policeman, Rob Hutton, was considering the role.
The Derby Telegraph was unable to contact him.
POLL: Would you rather spend £1m on an election for a crime commissioner or 50 new police officers for Derbyshire? Have your say on our quick, anonymous poll, above right.
Comments
by Me_Myself
Friday, September 07 2012, 7:05PM
“The police should not be controlled by someone with a political agenda, whatever that agenda might be.
As far as I am concernede if they belong to a political party that makes them unelectable.”
by asctty
Friday, September 07 2012, 6:10PM
“If you read windy bob's profile n Facebook or wherever, you will see that he has has more jobs than most. As well as not completing police training, he claims to have been in the Royal Navy as an officer. But apparently he never passed out - except perhaps on the parade ground. Who knows? Anyway, there are good CVs and those which quickly fall apart when you delve in a bit. A bit like UKIP's manifesto.
Why doesn't UKIP front up poor old Alan Graves instead?.....”
by RobF11
Friday, September 07 2012, 1:32PM
“haha - this is the first news item that mentions him where he hasn't popped up to regale us with his wisdom! Either he's on holiday or he doesn't want to draw attention to his trumped-up police career credentials!”
by Antony_Rol
Friday, September 07 2012, 1:01PM
“if it means he becomes too busy to spout his usual drivel on this website then Im all for him standing”
by RobF11
Friday, September 07 2012, 12:51PM
“I wonder if the experience of being a police officer over 30 years ago (and then only for 2 years) is really relevant to today's police force?
Also, in the Youtube video of David Gale's speech he talks about how he resigned because he disagreed with the things he was asked to do by his seniors.
The previous commenter who knew him at the time says he was was required to resign because 'he was unlikely to become an efficient police constable.'
That's two people's perspectives of the same event – but it does paint him as someone who refuses to listen or follow instruction, and when he doesn't get his own way, throws his toys out of the pram.”
by Neo_MadBadger
Friday, September 07 2012, 12:16PM
“If there is evidence that he announced in March that he was going to run for the post, why is this story giving a different impression? And if that is the case, how on earth was it thought that this wouldn't come to light? It begs the question, how much intelligence do the electorate believe that their police commissioner ought to have.”
by bullsitter
Friday, September 07 2012, 11:17AM
“by Hotlush
"@MadeInDerby; Whilst it's always possible he ran jobs along-side his Police career if he didn't then the longest career gap in which he could possibly have done it is from 18.5 to 20 years old.
Which means he didn't get out of probation so only ever held the rank of Constable.
To David Gale;
How long did you serve with Nottinghamshire and when?"
You have worked it out spot on. He served in Nottingham from 1977 or 78 to 1979 or 80. He did not complete his probationary period and was required to resign because 'he was unlikely to become an efficient police constable.' I remember him because I joined about the same time but went on to do over 30 years. I am quite amazed that he could really put forward his inexperience of policing as a reason to become the commississioner. Says a lot about him really.”
by RobF11
Friday, September 07 2012, 10:15AM
“Yes - the speech posted by UKIP in March this year on Youtube has the description "UKIP Derby member David Gale is one of the first candidates for one of the new Police Commissioner roles"
http://tinyurl.com/cwzhpyg
so he has had every intention to stand since then. This DET piece is clearly a point-scoring exercise aimed at trying to paint the other candidates as unprepared.
He also wrote a worrying "soapbox" article on the DET website in January 2012
http://tinyurl.com/cpn64ro
where he explicityly states that he thinks the role SHOULD be political. He says: " Any decision on the strategy of policing is ultimately a political decision about the priorities of the people"
Here he is basically saying that if the people of Derby actively vote for a UKIP candidate as Police Commissioner then they are asking the Police to be run under the umbrella manifesto of the UKIP party. That is deeply deeply worrying.
Or it would be if he stood any chance at all of being elected! hahah”
by squill
Friday, September 07 2012, 9:03AM
“It is quite readily available on YouTube that Mr Gale already has every intention of running for this post when he spoke at the ukip conference in Skegness in March. This is nothing more than a political stunt.
I think that there are many that would have concerns if he were to be given this kind of power.”
by Not_You
Friday, September 07 2012, 1:47AM
“I imagine there has been a lot of 'unofficial' information out there, and as it was parliament that has created these roles its easy for an MP to understand the role. People would have asked what was the role about as soon as it was announced.
I would imagine that was enough for people to know if it was for them or not. David having such a need for power (unsuccessfully so far thank God) means he would probably apply without going through the fine print anyway.”