Crime commissioner to visit Stray tomorrow to discuss dog theft

North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Philip Allott will address growing concerns about dog theft in a public meeting on the Stray tomorrow.

The session will be held between 1pm and 2pm on the section of the Stray near Harrogate District Hospital.

Dog owners will be able to air their feelings and find out more about what is being planned to tackle the problem.

Mr Allott, who lives in Knaresborough, said tackling dog theft would be one of his top priorities during his campaign to become the new commissioner.

He highlighted a survey showing dog thefts increased by 250% last year due to gangs cashing in on the demand for puppies during lockdown.

Sought-after breeds, such as French bulldogs, can sell for more than £5,000 and a litter can fetch £35,000.

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New police commissioner to review controversial mobile speed cameras

North Yorkshire’s new Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner has announced a review of the county’s controversial and unique mobile speed camera van system.

Speaking yesterday to the media outside the police force’s headquarters in Northallerton, Conservative Philip Allott outlined his priorities ahead of taking up office.

Mr Allott, from Knaresborough, was elected to the role, which is paid a £74,400 salary, last week with a majority of 30,295 votes on first and second preferences.

Signalling a determination to take his oversight of both emergency services in a different direction to that of his fellow Tory predecessor Julia Mulligan, Mr Allott said there were “big concerns” over camera vans, which have multiplied since they were first introduced in 2011.

Despite the force’s insistence the vans are deployed at accident black spots, widespread concerns have persisted for a decade that they are being sited at places to maximise the revenue they generate rather than improve safety.

Mr Allott said:

“People say the camera vans are in the wrong locations. People say their village doesn’t get a camera van. People say there are other solutions.”

He declined to elaborate on the concerns, but added:

“There will be a rethink in terms of how that is handled and that will be something that involves a consultation process.”

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County lines the top priority

In another apparent change in direction, he said he wanted to strengthen ties with councils and other bodies. He said the commissioner’s office could not work in isolation to tackle issues such as county lines drug dealers, which he ranked as his leading priority, or antisocial behaviour.

The commissioner said he would seek to forge closer partnerships with schools to identify children who act as couriers and with social services to identify vulnerable people whose homes may be used as county lines bases.

He said there were now 47 active county lines networks operating in the county, representing a huge increase on 14 months ago when Ms Mulligan revealed there were 11 drug supply lines from urban areas such as Cleveland, West Yorkshire, Liverpool and Manchester affecting North Yorkshire.

Mr Allott said:

“It is a community issue. Unfortunately during the pandemic recreational drugs has seen an increase in some activity. That’s something we need to deal with.”

The commissioner said while prosecuting county lines dealers would be a priority, he stressed treating the victims of drugs would be a focus for him.

He added:

“The victims are often the drug takers themselves who often end up in a downward spiral.”

He also pledged to put the needs of victims and vulnerable people above others, saying talks were under way about improving the connections between North Yorkshire and York’s CCTV coverage. He said actions to improve safety for women, both on the street and domestically, would be pursued.

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Rural crime response needs beefing up

However, the first of an extensive list of priorities that Mr Allott outlined was work to improve responses to rural crimes, such as hare coursing, thefts from farms, by strengthening the Rural Taskforce, with more officers.

During campaigning, a number of candidates highlighted how the Rural Taskforce was currently incapable of properly covering England’s largest county because it included only a handful of officers based in York.

He said the county’s size and rurality could be a key factor in many issues that both the police and fire service faced.

To respond to this, Mr Allott said he would examine increasing the number of multi-service officers who act as on-call firefighters, PCSOs and first responders in rural locations.

He said a trial of multi-service officers in Craven had proved to be “a great success”.

Mr Allott said:

“That is almost a modern day version of the village constable. That means somebody’s within that community and living within five minutes of the fire station.

“Because there’s funding there to fund that as a full-time job, it gives somebody an opportunity to be a firefighter who wouldn’t otherwise be able to do it.”

Newer fire engines needed

Nevertheless he said as the county’s fire service, which has been described as among the worst funded brigades in the country, had an “elderly fleet of vehicles” and a lack of equipment for staff, he would hold “honest discussions” with the government.

He said:

“We need to give the fire service the tools so they can do the job and do it well. We have to put together a concrete case as to why the government’s funding formula discriminates against us.

“We have got the biggest county in England with massive borders and lot of parks and green space between residential areas.”

Conservatives win North Yorkshire Police commissioner election

The Conservatives have held the position of North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner.

Philip Allott, the Tory candidate, won the election with 83,737 votes.

The vote went to a second preferences count after no candidate took 50 per cent of the vote.

He replaces Julia Mulligan, who stepped down from the role.

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Turnout for the election was 25.47 per cent.

Full results on first and second preferences were:

In the first round, James Barker, Liberal Democrat, got 19,773 and Keith Tordoff, Independent, 22,308.

North Yorkshire crime candidates: Conservative and Labour

Voters head to the polls tomorrow to elect a new police, fire and crime commissioner for North Yorkshire.

As candidates finalise campaigning ahead of the poll, they have spoken of what they view as the biggest tasks facing Conservative Julia Mulligan’s successor to ensure the best policing service possible is delivered.

Today, we feature Philip Allott, Conservative candidate, and Labour’s Alison Hume.

You can read about the Liberal Democrat and Independent candidates here.

Philip Allott, Conservative

A toughened approach to crack down on county lines drug dealing would be the top of marketing specialist Philip Allott’s agenda if he is named the new commissioner.

The former pupil at King James’ School in Knaresborough said despite the best endeavours of North Yorkshire Police and the regional crime unit, county lines dealers “are obviously still very active in North Yorkshire”.

Dismissing a suggestion that the issue was persisting due to a lack of resources to tackle it, he said government funding was being directed to the regional crime unit.

He said:

“The thing I am interested in is making the drug dealers’ lives a misery. In many cases there is intelligence and we can use that intelligence to stop vehicles on suspicion, particularly cross-border.”

Mr Allott said he would push for further work to enable teachers to spot pupils who are part of county lines drug dealing, help housing associations to identify cuckooing and action to spot children carrying drugs on railways.

He said: 

“The police on their own are not going to solve this and I see my role as working with different agencies, getting them all on board and actually communicating with each other, sharing intelligence and working for the greater good.”

Mr Allott said as commissioner he would also foster closer working with other agencies, launching a “complete reset” between the councils and the commissioner’s office.

He said: 

“We should be working for the greater good. I see the councillors from each of the different authorities as the eyes and ears of the commissioner. I see it as a partnership approach and that’s perhaps a very different way of looking at things.”

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Alison Hume, Labour

Clamping down on serious crime, rural crime and antisocial behaviour would be among York-based lecturer and TV writer Alison Hume’s top priorities.

But the most important issue for her would be tackling violence against women and girls, using some of the commissioner’s £5m pot for victims to introduce a clear strategy working across all agencies and attract further funding to get to grips with what she describes as “a national emergency”.

She said: 

“If this was happening to men, dare I say it would have been dealt with.”

Ms Hume said the greatest challenge for the incoming commissioner would be to connect with the public. 

She said: 

“You have to be the voice of the people and for the last nine years we’ve had a commissioner who hasn’t been visible and approachable.”

Ms Hume added tackling county lines was “clearly number one on the list” of challenges for North Yorkshire Police. 

She said: 

“Crime gangs are ripping our families and communities apart. support the creation of a specialist enforcement unit to track criminals on roads and railways and support drug diversion schemes to reduce harm and demand.

“The people who get caught up in county lines are not criminals, they are victims, we need to build safe services to prevent them going into a life of crime. North Yorkshire does not get a fair share of the pie and I will be fighting at a national level for better funding.”

She said she would establish a rural crime taskforce in every district, with officers trained in dealing with offences ranging from domestic abuse to wildlife crime.

She added: 

“I think the public would be shocked to know the rural crime taskforce is just a handful of officers and they have to cover the whole of North Yorkshire.”

North Yorkshire crime candidates: Independent and Liberal Democrat

North Yorkshire residents are set to vote this week for the area’s first new police, fire and crime commissioner since 2012.

As candidates continue campaigning ahead of Thursday’s poll, they have spoken of what they view as the biggest tasks facing Conservative Julia Mulligan’s successor to ensure the best policing service possible is delivered.

Today, we feature Keith Tordoff, Independent candidate, and James Barker, Liberal Democrat candidate.

Keith Tordoff, Independent

The residents of North Yorkshire deserve both honesty from their commissioner and someone who will fight for a fair share of government funding, former police officer and bank fraud investigator Keith Tordoff says.

He says resources for both the police and fire services are spread too thinly across the county and highlighted that currently 13 road traffic patrols are expected to police more than 6,000 miles of roads.

Mr Tordoff said:

“A lot of areas will not be being covered by the police. We have to be honest about it.”

He said upon being elected as commissioner, he would use his business and community experience to immediately hold a series of meetings with a range of bodies and the public to examine how the county could be made a safer place to live, work or visit.

When asked if he viewed North Yorkshire as a safe place, he said:

“I think a lot of people don’t feel safe because they hear about county lines drugs coming across the borders into North Yorkshire.

“Up until restrictions were brought in last year rural crime had vastly increased, which affects large swathes of North Yorkshire with its isolated communities and properties. Those people certainly don’t feel safe and to some degree feel let down because the rural taskforce is not sufficient to cover the vast area.”

He said as an Independent commissioner, he would be free to work with anybody and would not have to toe any political party’s line.

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James Barker, Liberal Democrat

Dispensing with the police, fire and crime commissioner and handing oversight of the services to councils would free up £1m annually to fund vital equipment and facilities, says former RAF officer James Barker.

He said the incoming commissioner’s greatest challenge would be in trying to deliver a service that has had “massive underinvestment over the years, but the challenges have forever been increasing”.

The Liberal Democrat York councillor said:

“There’s a tipping balance and I think it’s not in favour of the police or fire service at the moment.

“I would be looking to try to bring that balance back into kilter through a mixture of working smarter, not harder, working more collaboratively and with more agencies, how we balance the books.”

While he said he would prioritise cutting call answering times on the police non-emergency phone number, he would look to increase crime prevention action by working with agencies such as councils to tackle the causes of crime.

He said:

“Let’s stop fighting these fires individually and stop and build a fire service and work hand in hand rather have little pockets of people trying to do the best they can with these ever dwindling resources.

“We don’t get a fair crack of the whip being up north. I want to see a more developed system of Rural Watch. It’s a fantastic county we live in, but it’s awfully big and awfully rural and we can’t be everywhere all the time. I think sometimes it’s beholden on the landowner to be a little more proactive within certain bounds clearly in terms of reporting crime.

“Once we can identify a pattern we can have targeted intelligence to tackle the crime could you can spot trends and patterns and you can send resources.”

Tomorrow we will feature the Labour and Conservative candidates for North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner.

New CEO of North Yorkshire police commissioner set to take office

The incoming chief executive of the North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner’s office has pledged to challenge senior figures.

Lawyer Simon Dennis, who served for more than six years in the role at controversy-hit Cleveland Police, was endorsed to become chief executive by the North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Panel.

He told the panel he had been closely involved with the departure of Cleveland Police’s chief constable Mike Veale.

Mr Veale resigned in 2019 after a police watchdog investigation found he had lied about a smashed mobile phone.

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The panel, which has previously highlighted concerns in the way commissioner Julia Mulligan interacted with her staff, told Mr Dennis his role would be “pivotal” in working alongside the commissioner.

Ahead of the panel endorsing Mr Dennis in the £90,000-a-year role, Ripon councillor Mike Chambers asked Mr Dennis to give examples of how he had challenged the course of action set out by a superior.

He replied challenging senior figures was “part of the day-to-day thrust of the role”.

Mr Dennis added that while working with the Cleveland and North Yorkshire commissioners, he had “a number of opportunities to robustly advise around difficult and controversial issues”.

He said although the previous Cleveland chief constable had resigned amidst controversy and publicity, it was less well known that he had advised then commissioner Barry Coppinger on “how those matters were to be grappled with”.

Mr Dennis said:

“We were able to find a solution to that set of circumstances involving the chief constable’s resignation, which while not a high point in the organisation’s reputational history was able to command public confidence.

“It is very rarely appropriate to be absolutist in your advice and to seek to intervene in an unhelpful way.”

Mrs Mulligan told the panel Mr Dennis had been the outstanding candidate to apply for the role “by some way”.

After the meeting, the panel’s chairman, Cllr Carl Les said:

“All chief executives have to have that ability that they will provide advice and sometimes that advice can also be a challenge to what us politicians want to do.

“I think the panel were very satisfied with Simon Dennis’ responses to our questions.”

Independent crime candidate: Commissioner’s role ‘should not be political’

The Independent candidate for North Yorkshire’s Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner has said politics needs to be taken out of the role in order to improve policing.

Keith Tordoff, a former West Yorkshire police officer and local businessman, has pledged to introduce policies, such as visible policing and measures to tackle county lines, within two years if elected.

Voters will go to the polls on May 6 to elect a new commissioner. Conservative, Liberal Democrat and Labour candidates will also be standing.

Mr Tordoff, who used to own the Oldest Sweet Shop in the World in Pateley Bridge, will be standing as an independent candidate.

‘Take the politics out of the commissioner role’

Mr Tordoff has spearheaded his campaign on the pledge to take “politics out of the role” of the police, fire and crime commissioner.

He said that the role of commissioners, which were introduced in 2012 under the coalition government, had strayed from its original purpose.

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Mr Tordoff said:

“It was not meant as a political appointment. Someone from a political party always has to toe the party line.

“That is not, in my opinion, good for the people.”

If elected, he said he would bring fresh ideas and leadership to the role in order to help the chief constable and the fire service.

Mr Tordoff added that he had already sold his business, the Oldest Sweet Shop in the World, in order to avoid any conflict of interest. 

He said he would also donate £20,000 of his commissioner salary to registered charities. The police, fire and crime commissioner is paid £74,400 a year.

Visible policing to tackle anti-social behaviour

Mr Tordoff said anti-social behaviour had become the “bane of people’s lives”.

The issue has blighted Ripon in recent months and police were forced to commit more resources to the city.

In February, five incidents were reported in one three-hour spree, including a robbery, thefts and reports of a man carrying a machete.

North Yorkshire Police in Ripon.

North Yorkshire Police in Ripon.

Mr Tordoff said part of the problem was down to a lack of engagement with young people.

He said:

“They start off life as good people, they are not bad. It is just because we are not working with them.”

One solution, he said, was to invest in visible policing, electric vehicles and bikes so officers can go around towns and villages and be more approachable.

He said this would help people feel safe, but also save money for the police service.

When asked why the county needed more police officers to solve issues like this, he said it was a common complaint among residents.

“Everyone I have spoken to over the past 12 months are saying they never see a police officer.

“My plan is to invest in electric infrastructure and bikes so that officers can go out and stop and speak to people.”

Lobbying government for fire funding

Mr Tordoff pledged to to lobby government for more funding for North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue.

According to current commissioner, Julia Mulligan, the service is one of the worst funded in the country.

The government recently capped any precept increases for fire services to 1.99%, whereas police forces were allowed a £15 hike.

Mr Tordoff said he would take the issue to government ministers, if elected.

He said:

“It is a case that needs to be presented.

“I would put a case together to show that it is reasonable and legitimate.

“I would be working with government to justify better funding for North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue.”

The following candidates so far have announced they are standing for election as commissioner:

The final list of nominations will be published on April 9. The deadline to register to vote in the May elections is April 19. You can register to vote here.

Labour crime candidate: county lines is ‘ripping families apart’

Labour’s candidate to be North Yorkshire next police, fire and crime commissioner has pledged to tackle county lines drug dealing, which is “ripping families apart” in the Harrogate district.

Alison Hume, a screenwriter and part-time lecturer at the University of Leeds, said the county needed an “approachable and visible” commissioner.

Voters will go to the polls on May 6 to elect a new commissioner. The Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and an independent candidate will also be standing.

Ms Hume is standing for the Labour and Co-operative party at this year’s North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner election.

County lines is “ripping families apart”

Ms Hume has pledged to make tackling county lines drug dealing one of her key campaign issues.

County lines refers to drugs being transported from one area to another, often across police boundaries.

The issue has hit the Harrogate district hard recently: in the last six months of 2020, police made 140 arrests related to the issue.

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Ms Hume pledged to support police to “eliminate” the drug dealing and help those who have fallen victim to county lines gangs.

She said:

“County lines is ripping families and young people apart. I am really concerned about it.

“People need to see that it will not happen to them.”

She added that more programmes were needed to help support vulnerable young people who may be drawn into county lines.

Ripon anti-social behaviour

Ms Hume said police need to be more visible in Ripon and do more to prevent anti-social behaviour.

The city has been blighted by crime in recent months. A cannabis farm has been found on an industrial estate and there were five police incidents in one three-hour spree in February, including a robbery, thefts and reports of a man carrying a machete.

Ms Hume said she would like to move to a model where police community support officers are embedded in neighbourhoods in order to improve “visible policing”.

She said:

“It is an operational decision, but I would like to move towards the introduction of accountable, dedicated and visible police.

“To do that I think we need a police officer and a long-term embedded PCSO in every neighbourhood.”

Ms Hume said the move would help to “disrupt” anti-social behaviour at an early stage.

When it was pointed out North Yorkshire Police had already committed more resources to the city, she said the situation had already escalated.

“They had to react to a situation that had already escalated and had already been reported to them.

“I think they would be the first to admit that they are working towards a different mode of working where they are doing far more early work in the communities.

“I just want to accelerate that process.”

Safety of women on Harrogate’s streets

Ms Hume said she would want to introduce a “comprehensive strategy” on the safety of women on the streets of North Yorkshire.

She said that there were already good services in place for victims, but they needed to be brought together in a plan.

This would replicate a strategy introduced in Northumbria by former police commissioner and current Victims Commissioner, Dame Vera Baird.

Ms Hume said:

“It’s something that I feel very strongly about as a mother of two girls.

“In all the time that I started to campaign for women’s’ rights, we have not moved forward as we should have done.

“Women do not feel safe on the streets.”

Ms Hume, who is a graduate of Labour’s Jo Cox Women in Leadership programme, said she recognised it was an ambitious plan but added “it can be done”.

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue.

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue has been underfunded, says Labour Party candidate for police, fire and crime commissioner. Picture: Stock.

Funding the fire service

Ms Hume said North Yorkshire’s fire service has been underfunded  and pledged to lobby government to change this.

Current commissioner, Julia Mulligan, said recently that the service is among the worst funded in the country.

The government set a 2% cap on any increase to the fire precept for 2021/22. Anything above that amount would require a referendum.

However, the police precept threshold was set much higher at £15 – which means more scope for income for the force.

Ms Hume said:

“Is it really recognised how essential the fire service is to our communities? I don’t think it is in terms of the funding.

“I would be looking to raise the profile of what they actually contribute to the public.”

The following candidates so far have announced they are standing for election as commissioner:

The final list of nominations will be published on April 9. The deadline to register to vote in the May elections is April 19. You can register to vote here.

Lib Dem crime candidate: More frontline police needed

More police are needed on the frontline to help people feel safe, says the Liberal Democrat candidate for North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner.

James Barker, who is a City of York councillor, said he wanted to “explore why” more officers are not on the streets, if elected to the role.

Voters will go to the polls on May 6 to elect a successor to Julia Mulligan. There will also be candidates standing for the Conservative and Labour parties as well as an independent.

Mr Barker, who served 24 years in the military, has served as a scout leader and rugby coach.

More frontline officers

Mr Barker said North Yorkshire is not served equally by police and more frontline officers are needed to keep people safe.

He said as commissioner he would look to free up more police to be on the streets.

Mr Barker said:

“We are England’s largest county but not everyone is truly represented. How often do you see a copper?

“I want to explore reasons why we cannot get more coppers on the streets. I want to try and release more to the frontline.”

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Mr Barker added he would also look into the 101 non-emergency number service. He said he wanted to improve the response of the service after residents complained that it often “left them hanging” and on hold.

Make Ripon “less attractive” for anti-social behaviour

Mr Barker said he would look at working with social services, youth offending teams, the police and other organisations to look at making Ripon “less attractive” for anti-social behaviour.

The city has been blighted by crime in recent months with cannabis farms found on an industrial estate and five incidents in one three-hour spree earlier in February, including a robbery, thefts and reports of a man carrying a machete.

Mr Barker said the problem needed to be “nipped at the lowest form” before it got worse.

When pressed on how his solution would solve the problem when the police had already committed resources to the city, he said he would want to do more.

He said:

“I would want to look at what exactly is being allocated in terms of resources and what we can do more and what we can do better.”

The current Pateley Bridge police station on King Street in the town. Picture: Nidderdale AONB.

The Pateley Bridge police station on King Street in the town, which was closed. Picture: Nidderdale AONB.

Police stations

When asked if he would continue the policy of closing police stations to save money, Mr Barker said there would be other avenues he would look at.

He described rural police stations as a “focal point of the community” and important for helping people feel safe.

It comes as North Yorkshire has seen a number of stations shut down. 

In the Harrogate district, Pateley Bridge police station was recently closed and staff moved across the road in an effort to save £19,000 a year.

Mr Barker said cuts to the police were “starting to bite deep” and that he may have to make some difficult decisions to save money.

He said:

“Some difficult decisions will need to be made. I’m happy to make difficult decisions, but I will not do it lightly.

“I will not do it without as much information as I could possibly have.”

Funding the fire service

Mr Barker said the commissioner’s office needed to look “long and hard” at why North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue was underfunded.

Mulligan, the current police, fire and crime commissioner, said recently that the county’s fire service is among the worst funded in the country.

The government set a 2% cap on any increase to the fire precept for 2021/22. Anything above that amount would require a referendum.

However, the police precept threshold was set much higher at £15 – which means more scope for income for the force.

When asked how he would solve the underfunding of the fire service, Mr Barker said the commissioner’s office needed to look at what it could do about the service’s finances.

He said: 

“I wish I had a magic chequebook that I could whip out overnight. 

“But, again, it comes to looking long and hard at why the underfunding has happened and what we can do about it.”

He suggested that the commissioner could look at ways of helping towns which are underserved, such as sharing appliances with other fire services.

The following candidates so far have announced they are standing for election as commissioner:

The final list of nominations will be published on April 9. The deadline to register to vote in the May elections is April 19. You can register to vote here.

Tomorrow, the Stray Ferret will feature an interview with Labour Party candidate, Alison Hume.

Tory crime candidate: No plans to close more police stations

The Conservative candidate for North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner has said he does not envisage closing more police stations if elected.

In the first of a series of candidate interviews with the Stray Ferret, Philip Allott said he would take the closure of stations on a case by case basis.

Voters will go to the polls on May 6 to elect a new commissioner. The Liberal Democrats, Labour Party and an independent candidate will also be fielding candidates.

Mr Allott, who lives in Knaresborough, is standing for the Conservative party. He is managing director of PR and marketing agency Allott and Associates Ltd.

No more station closures

Mr Allott said, if elected commissioner, he did not “envisage” closing anymore stations.

In the Harrogate district, Pateley Bridge police station became the latest to be closed in the county in an effort to save money.

The building on King Street has been put up for sale and officers relocated to save £19,000 per year.

It follows other station closures, such as Northallerton, which have been shut to relocate officers with other public sector workers.

Mr Allott said some of the stations had been closed due to a lack of people coming in to report crime. He said the Pateley Bridge station was among those that were underused.

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He added that the money has been used to invest in frontline policing, such as body cameras.

When asked if he intended to stick with the policy to close stations down in order to save money for taxpayers, Mr Allott said: 

“I don’t envisage anymore police stations closing, that has been worked through.

“If there is a special case, then I will do it on a case by case basis. But I think where we are is just about right.”

Harrogate ‘badly hit’ by county lines

In the last six months of 2020, police made 140 arrests related to county lines drugs across the Harrogate district.

Police launched Operation Expedite, based in the town, to deal with drug dealing and the exploitation of vulnerable people.

Mr Allott said Harrogate had been “badly hit” by county lines drugs gangs in recent years.

He said he would extend the automatic number plate recognition system and encourage stop and search “on reasonable grounds” to help the force tackle drug gangs.

Mr Allot said there were “some easy hits” to make on tackling the problem, but added there were longer term issues such as working to help vulnerable young people who may be encouraged into gangs.

He said:

“I’m a realist. The police, fire and crime commissioner on their own and with partners can’t stop the drugs trade.

“It would be fantastic if we could, but we can’t. We can simply control it.

“But what I want to do is to make it so hard for that trade in North Yorkshire.”

North Yorkshire Police in Ripon.

More police presence to tackle Ripon crime

In order to tackle the problems over anti-social behaviour in Ripon, Mr Allott said he wanted to double the number of police officers in the city.

The city has been blighted by crime in recent months with cannabis farms found on an industrial estate and five incidents in one three-hour spree earlier in February, including a robbery, thefts and reports of a man carrying a machete.

Mr Allott said part of the issue was a “lack of visibility” of police officers. He added that there should be a mobile unit patrolling communities, including Ripon.

When asked whether he really believed more police would work when officers had already pledged to tackle the problem in the city, he said the force needed to use the “record number” of resources that it will soon have at its disposal.

He said:

“We’re well on our way to a record number of officers. We’ve definitely got a record number of PCSOs.

“But we’ve got to utilise those people and police have got to have a greater community involvement. Other agencies and organisations need to support the police.”

Dog thefts and keeping women safe on Harrogate’s streets

One area where the Conservative candidate has focused a lot of his campaign is on dog thefts.

Mr Allott believes many frustrated dog owners feel some police forces treat the crime as low priority. He wants to lobby for stronger enforcement on dog thefts.

“There’s a lot of people out there who feel they are not been listened to about their pets. That needs to be addressed.”

He highlighted a survey showing dog thefts increased by 250% last year due to gangs cashing in on the demand for puppies during lockdown.

A Freedom of Information request by the Stray Ferret to North Yorkshire Police showed the number of incidents recorded in the district where a dog had been stolen was nine last year, four in 2019 and four in 2018.

When asked whether violence against women would be a better focus for his campaign, he pointed to £500,000 which has been allocated by government to North Yorkshire to spend on improving female safety.

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Mr Allott said he wanted the money spent on plain clothes police officers and to educate young men on the issue.

As part of his campaign, he has launched a survey to gather views on how the funding should be best spent.

He said:

“The hard knock is the plain clothes police to arrest men who are harassing women. But secondly we need a cultural change.

“The way we are going to do that cultural change is that we are going to educate men to behave better.”

Funding the fire service

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue also falls within the commissioners remit.

The service precept, which funds the fire service, is set by the commissioner’s office.

But, Julia Mulligan, who has held the role since 2012, said recently that the county’s fire service is among the worst funded in the country.

Asked how he would solve that problem, Mr Allott said there would need to be more funding for the service.

He said this could be done through running fire stations more effectively, increasing the precept and lobbying ministers for more funding.

The following candidates so far have announced they are standing for election as commissioner:

The final list of nominations will be published on April 9. The deadline to register to vote in the May elections is April 19. You can register to vote here.

Tomorrow, the Stray Ferret will feature an interview with Liberal Democrat candidate, James Barker.