What do you know about the candidates for Police and Crime Commissioner? This isn’t a rhetorical question so come on, let’s hear it. I do know there are five of them.

One is at university studying social science, one was a member of the old police authority, another is an ex assistant chief constable, there’s a woman who owns a business and a retired teacher.

That’s the sum total of my knowledge and I only discovered that from the Express and by trawling the internet. If you don’t have the time or facility to Google you’re probably going to have to throw a dart at the ballot paper.

What sort of cack-handed election is this? I know more about next-door’s cat than I do of the respective candidates. (One of them used to cut my hair but I don’t see that as an asset unless he’s planning to be a caped crusader.)

From what I’ve seen across the USA I do believe having one identifiable person responsible for policing who answers directly to the people and can’t pass the buck will serve us better. Being voted out of office if he/she fails to perform is a good motivator but we have to know more about them. I like the sound of Sarah Flannery simply because she is independent and not tainted by association with any major party and has no preconceived ideas from any involvement with the previous policing system.

It’s time for change but I’d like to know a lot more about each candidate. As any resident knows we’ve had more than enough duffers running police operations.

Remember the disastrous ‘police officers on the beat don’t catch criminals’ philosophy that eradicated neighbourhood policing creating a haven for lawless louts? You may recall the time when Cheshire Police’s reaction to a tip-off of armed robbery was to leave empty police vehicles parked around town.

Any Crime Commissioner acting in a similar manner would be voted out at the first election. I like that. I really do.

So, come on you candidates, get out there and convince us why we should vote for you. Sitting on your duff and hoping the Express does it all for you isn’t going to cut it.

I want to understand you before I cast my vote and so far I’m going with next door’s cat.