David Ruffley MP has called for candidates for the Police and Crime Commissioners elections to be held next year to come forward.

David Ruffley said: 'Police and Crime Commissioners will be elected in every police force area across England and Wales - outside of London - on 15 November 2012.

These role of Police and Crime Commissioner will herald a new era of policing, putting the power to hold the police to account in the hands of an elected representative for Suffolk. With new powers devolved from Whitehall, Commissioners will have mandates from the public to drive the fight against crime and anti-social behaviour.

Police and Crime Commissioners will have specific responsibility to: identify the policing needs of the public; set priorities by agreeing a local strategic plan for the force; hold the Chief Constable to account for achieving these priorities; set the Police Force budget and the policing precept in council tax bills and appoint - and, if necessary, remove - the Chief Constable.

The Government is reforming the police to drive the fight against crime and disorder.

The Police and Crime Commissioner in Suffolk will restore the link between the police and the communities they serve. He or she will give people across Bury St Edmunds, Stowmarket, Needham Market and the villages a real say in how Suffolk is policed.'

Notes to Editors

More information about the role of Police and Crime Commissioner is available on the Home Office website.

At a speech on 4 November the Policing and Criminal Justice Minister Nick Herbert issued a 'clarion call for prospective candidates to step forward'. He said that he wanted to see 'dynamic leaders, community champions, pioneers and entrepreneurs to consider standing for this office'. And that 'We need people of real calibre who have built or led organisations and who are committed to public service to step forward' (Nick Herbert Speech, 4 November 2011).