“The turnout was poor because noone wants a PCC they want more police on the ground, but we had no democratic say on this. I think most people consider this job to be one that should have no political bias. The money spent on the ballot alone could have paid for thousands of extra police on the beat. Also there has been almost a total lack of publicity or information. All in all a total and utter farce, I cannot believe my kids had to miss a day of school for this. And all when Brussels will be telling us how to police our country soon anyway!!!!!”

“You have to ask why we need this pointless position. Especially as it is obviously politically biased with only candidates coming from political parties. That will result in obstuctions if the wrong party is in power and roll over if the right one is in power. On top of that the candidates have not been in the policeforce so do not understand the intricate workings. Surely the police should have a non political independent leader if it is anyone other than the Chief Constable. or it should be run on the same basis as School Governers and be a non paid position.”

“Possibly because its been a farce from beginning to end, when the Electrol Reform Society describe it as a comedy of errors as they have according to the news this morning, it speaks volumes.”

“Does this show that the general public have become fed up of politicians?

We've been fed up with them for a long time.”

“Probably don't want the police governed by politicians.”

“In Spain and Greece they take to the streets and riot.
In Britain everyone stops at home.
Apathy as a weapon- who'd have thunk it?”

“It's a disgrace really that they held elections over these important and well-paid roles and clearly didn't put any time or effort into promoting the elections or give plenty of information about the candidates.

The roles will be weaker for it right from the very start, as they don't have a clear mandate and they would have been better off retaining the existing Police authorities or maybe they could have included 'keep the existing authority' as an option on the ballot paper to make it more interesting.

Perhaps it would have been better having a vote on something that people care passionately about, how about a referendum on EU membership for example? I bet that would get record amounts of people voting and there is a generation of people who have never had their chance to have their say on this vital issue and instead of the constant squabbling about it, perhaps for a change we can settle the issue and set the country on a more certain path.”

“20% voted, but I bet 50% of the hypocrites who didnt vote will think they have a right to moan about the outcome.”

“Does anyone know how often this vote is going to take place? Because apparently our dippy PM Mr Cameron has said he expects a higher turn out next time!”

“I didn't vote, and don't give a damn about the outcome as its nothing but another gravy train as these people have no real power or authority to change the things people want changing.”

“Hardly any advertising of the fact that there was this PCC election, didn't help. Neither did the lack of campaigning by the candidates. Had I received one election leaflet through my door, I'd have probably voted for whoever's leaflet it was. As it was I didn't get anything whatsoever.”

“Give it a few years and this "role" will be cut to save money, pathetic.”

“Apparently it's between £75-100K a year to be the PCC. I'd rather have 3 or 4 extra police officers on ~£25,000 a year finstead.”

“There was absolutely no information about the candidates, not even on the Derby City Council website. I think this vote was quite important so I went searching on the web and eventually after 10-15 mins I managed to find the PCC page with their candidate information. Many other people simply do not have the time. Apparently there was meant to be a booklet distributed with the polling cards, but we and many others received nothing. There was no campaign information and hardly any publicity around Derby about who the candidates were and what they were promising. Yes there was the TV advert, but that was nationwide. I spoke with someone from the council who said that it was the responsibilty of the candidates to get their information out there, not them. I agree in some part, but do think the council should have made it easier for people to access the information. I managed to find the information booklet on the national PCC website, but not everyone in Derby has the internet, so I can't help but think people simply didn't know. Other people I have spoken to have said they were aware of the election, but didn't bother voting as they were not provided with information about what their vote meant and who they were voting for. Personally I did take the time and effort to vote. I think policing is a very important issue at the mo, and I'd like to feel like I'd had a say in who was involved. It's just a shame more effort wasn't put in by the organisation running it!”

“I always get irritated by the arguments by the likes of Dasher that because people didn't vote they have no right to complain.

A lot of people would have looked at the list of all the candidates and the parties involved and not liked the look of any of them.

They only other option is to spoil the paper - which doesn't count for anything so what should you do?

Walk down to the polling station and make a choice you don't want to make purely because it's something you feel obliged to do?

That for me would be hypocritical to act against your convictions.

I think the only way you could address this is for two things to happen, one is to make voting mandatory, but then follow that up with a 'none of the above' option so that voters can clearly make clear their dissatisfaction with the existing status quo.”

“I totally agree RickDeckhard”

“Poor turnout - no publicity sent out to houses and very little in newspapers & election in November (May is more usual) are probably bigger factors than people being sicker than usual of politicians.”

“Yet DT 'survey' suggested 25% would not vote.

I guess that show who credible the surveys are, yet still they print the results...”

“More politicians is never the answer.....”