ON May 5 Wiltshire will go to the polls to vote for who they want to oversee the county’s police force.

Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) are responsible for setting up policy, deciding the police budget and holding the county’s police to account.

The post was brought in by the last Coalition government, but the inaugural elections were tainted with terrible turnout of around 15 per cent nationally.

This year it is hoped with more publicity the community will engage more with the elections.

The Standard spoke to the four candidates vying for the position in this year’s elections to got their views on the priorities for policing in Wiltshire.

“IT’S time we had a change,” said Ukip’s candidate in this May’s election.

John Short, 69, has spent 35 years in local government and is currently chairman of Ukip’s Swindon branch. He is setting out his plan for the role of the PCC.

“During my four year term as the Wiltshire PCC I want Wiltshire Police to take the fight to the criminals, by increasing street policing and cutting bureaucracy and waste,” he said.

“The police do a sterling job under austerity and we need to make sure certain areas of police budget are ring-fenced to protect community in the future.

Mr Short’s aim as PCC is to make the police service a truly local one in Wiltshire.

“Local people have to have a say on local policing policies; I want to bring policing back to the population,” he said.

“I pledge to fund community-based police officers in new police houses by working with developers and the local community to return true local policing to rural and urban areas.”

While standing for Ukip, Mr Short says he is a truly independent candidate.

“I will answer to the people of Wiltshire, not Whitehall bureaucrats, by ensuring that Wiltshire Police address the crime priorities of local people,” he said.

“The role has got to be purely and simply above politics.”

One of Mr Short’s polices is to facilitate a new “Offender to Work Scheme” in partnership with the courts, probation service, councils and local employers.

“[It] will set young offenders to work for the local community whilst providing them with training, qualifications and skills for a life of employment, not a life of crime,” Mr Short explained.