Durham and Darlington’s Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC), Joy Allen has criticised the government’s decision to scrap the role writes Local Democracy Reporter, Bill Edgar.
In a damning statement after the announcement on Thursday, PCC Allen said the government “has consistently demonstrated its complete lack of understanding of policing and community safety.”
The Labour official, who was re-elected to the role in 2024, warned that removing the role would undermine public confidence in the police.
Home Office minister Sarah Jones said the role, introduced in November 2012, had not worked, with the public having little awareness of who their PCC is, and is showing little sign in improving confidence in police.
PCCs will be abolished at the end of their current terms in office in 2028.
Their powers will be transferred to regional mayors or policing and crime boards made up of local council leaders.
Reacting to the shock news, PCC Allen said: “This is yet another ill-thought-through proposal from a government that has consistently demonstrated its complete lack of understanding of policing and community safety.
“Abolishing PCCs would remove the public’s only direct say in policing governance. It is PCCs who have ensured that ASB and road safety are policing priorities, because this is what the public wants. It is the office of the PCC which has worked tirelessly on the PCC’s priorities for the benefit of local people and there is absolutely no acknowledgement of that in the government’s statement.”
PCCs are elected officials whose job is to help ensure police forces function effectively, but not to run those forces themselves. They hold police forces to account and scrutinise their performances on behalf of the public.
Ms Allen, a former county councillor for Bishop Auckland and cabinet member, added: “There has been no consultation, no discussion and clearly very little coherent thought. Replacing PCCs with an appointed Board, whatever name it is eventually given, is merely a return to the invisible and toothless Police Authorities.
“PCCs hold Chief Constables to account – directly – on behalf of the public. This is a major win for those who find this an uncomfortable position. These proposals will replace a clear line of accountability with fragmented, multi-tiered structures and undermine public confidence at a time when trust in policing requires strengthening, not upheaval.”
However, the news has been welcomed by Labour’s North East mayor Kim McGuinness, who is set to take on responsibility for the role.
“Today’s announcement is an important step towards strengthening local leadership and accountability,” a spokesperson said.
PCC Allen’s role currently oversees the work of Durham Constabulary, which covers County Durham and Darlington. However, the Tees Valley town is covered by the Tees Valley Combined Authority and not the North East Combined Authority.
Further details about future arrangements of the role will be announced in due course.
Mayor McGuinness added: “Bringing Police and Crime Commissioner functions under the mayor will allow for a more joined-up approach to tackling crime and improving public safety, alongside our wider work on safety on public transport, regeneration and skills.
“This integration will also help us to tackle child poverty and improve life chances for everyone in the North East. We look forward to working with Government to ensure that these reforms deliver the best outcomes possible for the people and communities in our region.”
South West Durham News covering news across County Durham.
Bill Edgar
Reporter for the Local Democracy Reporter Service.
oh dear…
Brooke Norman wonder if she’ll spill the beans on project Bishop Auckland tourism if she does not receive a suitable present from Santa
Well, she would
payday come to an end
Good time they all went
Kevin York yes that’s her £80+ and all her hanger ons wages cars etc can be spent on bobbys
Kevin York sooner the better
Sadly the abolition of these vanity positions isn’t happening until the end of 2028, so still time for you to enjoy the gravy train a little longer, and to share a million more smiles.
Isn’t it hilarious that her beloved Labour Party haven’t had the decency to discuss their demise with them before making the announcement.
Now you know how the ordinary man and women feel since this New Lie Bour party were elected on promises which have already been broken.
Just wait until Rachel for accounts does her best to further destroy our country on November 26th.
She never answered any of my questions and concerns. So tough
Never been seen for months but all of a sudden posts all over Facebook of her here there and everywhere,now we know why
Thought she was Stormer’s best mate (currygate).
Steve Jardine learned the hard way…politicians have no friends🤣🤣🤣
Steve Jardine Indeed on April 30th 2021 at Starmers ‘Beergate’ not only was Joy Allen at that event but also the female Chief Constable of Durham at that time was in attendance …. No wonder he was given a clean bill of health!
Hip hip hooray, why wait until 2028.
Bill Moist got to give them plenty time to rinse as much money as they can away before they go
Great news , maybe spend the money on something more useful.
Is that because we’ve found out PCC’s are a total waste of money and space? Or is it because Liebour have proposed that these positions are also wasting tax payers money? Job under threat? Yes! Leave policing to the police!
She has never been any good to anyone in her entire life. Only got the job through her cronies.
Woman doesn’t like it because she’s told she lost her job – now she know what tens of thousands of other people in this country feel about this government!
She would, her gravy train has come to the end of the line !!!
This was a terrible idea from the start.
Initiative was ill-thought out politcial motivated, sadly PCC office have increased their office sizes creating more bureaucracy and wasting tax payers money…need to get rid before 2028 save more money
Problem is, the proposed replacement for these roles are just elected mayors and other minor wannabe local politicians, with a political agenda. That means they’ll be pushing that agenda rather than letting the police really do their job
Stew Devlin. That’s what the mayor of South Yorkshire has done. Encompassed the role of PCC and awarded himself over 30k. Oh he’s Labour.
Graeme Oliver to be honest, most of them are there only on party politics ticket, funded by their own political party.
Of course she will because next stop dole que 🤣🤣🤣
Joy’s had her nose in the trough for long enough now.
Not one thing has improved with her in that role, in fact she’s taken money, that could have been better used within the force.
She’s been a drain on the system and been a total waste of tax payers money.
The experiment failed.
Move on.
Get rid of them and the mayor roles along with them total waste of taxpayer money
Diane Bliss couldnt agree more.
They serve no purpose p45 coming.
Politicising the police and the constant addition of extra bureaucracy run by 3rd rate politicians is staggeringly expensive
Oh my, Dear me, Never mind. Have to find a proper job.
Now is a good time to come clean about the piss up you’ve allways denied 💩
Will she have to give back the VW campervan which she needed to do her job
Poor lass is going to loose her huge undeserved salary… boo hoo
Wonder if her promised seat in the House of Lords will still happen. Rewarded for Curry gate.
Starmer doesn’t want anyone in-between him and his Chief Constables.
I’d do the same if I was losing her salary.
She will do , now she’s booted off the gravy train. 🤣
David Farry exactly
David Farry yeah, so if you can, tell us how well Khan is doing managing the Police in London… can we get rid of him too?
Of course she will it’s her job which is going
Get over it, complete waste of money.
She not bothered she got a campervan out of it
Of course she is. She will lose her 90k a year job
Hang on , when the tories announced them the liebour party said they weren’t needed
Blah blah blah
And as she is liebour ! Does she toe the party line or not ?
Typical look after myself
Good riddance too them all
P45 jog on
Built a new custody suite, closed all of the old ones the new one cost ten times what it would have cost to upgrade all of the others and means prisoners have to be transported miles to be booked in taking longer for officers to get back to beat areas
Shaun Doran And £10 million over budget as well at least !
Pushing the power to the mayors is wrong too. It should go back to the police. The people who know about policing, rather than politicians, who don’t.
Craig Robinson absolutely agree. How could a town mayor oversee in this role!!! This is ludicrous.
The police can look after themselves 👍
Craig Robinson time to be rid of mayors also what on earth are they useful for.
We were asked if we wanted devolution in the NE. We said no, they did it anyway 😏
She upset because her salary of over £73000 is going out the window and with exspence and freebies think I would be upset.She is a member of the Labour Party and probably thought she had a cry job for at least another 4yrs,so she will be on to Starmier for another cozy job within labours ranks whiled in government. What’s that saying job for the boys ‘er’ girls
They will all bleat now
No more £80 thousand plus salary
For absolutely no purpose ! A fantastic move , get rid of these clowns , gravy train is over
In other news Turkeys are not voting for Christmas!
Should never have been such a thing a PCC. Keep politics out of policing!
She knew this was coming anyway – all part of the broader changes which were due in 2029. Her own party made the decision so she will have been notified in advance.
Hopefully the money gets redirected towards front line policing rather than servicing political point scoring and pet projects.
Pabs Schwartz sadly she will be replaced by the North East mayor…another politician. Not sure what this will mean for Durham Constabulary as most of the force area is in Kim McGuiness’ fiefdom whilst Darlington and I think Barney and all of Teesdale falls under the Tees Valley mayor. Can’t see the Chief Con having to answer to 2 political overlords…. This might result in the Force disappearing with most being annexed by LB and the smaller Tees Valley bit going to LZ. In both cases most of the existing force area will be a backwater that gets little to no attention or resources. Can’t say the current PCC will be a miss but not sure Durpol’s future looks secure
Never understood the point of them.
Divent invite labour MPs to your leaving party or students .
Waste of money. Cameron’s stupid idea. Cost millions.
Almost time to find a real job that’ll pay you what you’re worth.
Steve Gibbon Oh dear, that won’t be much, mind you Aldi might be needing some shelf fillers.
Everyone else is over the moon . The only good thing Labour have come out with .
Oh dear, How sad, Never mind!
She would say it’s wrong…£73,000 salary gone.
Stephen Coupland and how much does her staffs wages amount to..what a waste of money..
upset because the gravy train has hit the buffers, and about time.
all panicking because the gravy train has been stopped for these meaningless jobs
Time to work for a living, pet.
God the irony. Labour apologist scewered by Labour.
This is how they repay her after she helped cover-up Starmers lock-down party. Traitors!
Shouldn’t have covered currygate up!
Raymond Schofield Beergate – and that is why it was a Whitewash investigation into it.
It was NEVER a good idea, and just more money wasted on unnecessary ‘services’!
She never did reply to an email I sent which is just common courtesy. That in itself signifies to me that she had no interest and just wanted the paycheck.
Rachel Nichol Mackay Was your E mail about the Beergate incident that Starmer was investigated for?
Rachel Nichol Mackay
Same thing here. I tried when she was first elected. You would have thought that was the time when she would be at her most responsive to the public. After all its in the job description. 🤷
What has achieved that would not have been achieved without her. Will my council tax go down now.
PCC, P45 🤣🤣
Not surprised politics has no place in policing
I think Joy should prove her worth and explain just how she has made the chief constable accountable and how she has improved Policing in County Durham.
Think we will be waiting a long time.
About time. Self serving politicians should have no place in policing.
Utterly delusional and pointless. Nobody cares.
She’ll get a canny pension/ pay off for doing fuck all
So it should total waste of time got no idea what they do
I bet she has now her gravy train has been derailed 😂
PCC, especially as an elected and, therefore, political orientated role was always a ridiculous notion.
Doesn’t like getting her snout kicked out of the trough.
Hopefully McGuiness will get the boot next when they get rid of the pointless elected mayors.
Can’t come fast enough
Welcome to the breadline pet… just like the rest of us… now you will see why people go robbing shops, we can’t afford to heat our homes never mind put food on the table, and since the gas board knows where we are to take our money for gas, shops don’t know where thieves live, so unfortunately it’s the supermarkets that get robbed.
Oh no I’m going to lose my cushy 71,000 – 100,000 a year salary for getting in the way of the Police . That’s the salary of three to four cops . For another lawyer of bureaucracy that produces nothing . I’d rather have cops rather than 41 PCCs
Tj Milne and whats her staffs wage bill??
John Lamb no idea a small fortune
Hundred thousand plus for a job that’s not needed how did we manage before.
Created by Cameron another layer of government just what the country needed I think not.
It’s not a good look trying to justify something that’s not needed the Chief Constable gets more than the prime minister let him do it
Surprise surprise 😂 why wouldn’t she criticise the decision? she’s losing the tax payers money gravy train that she’s on. These PCC were a disaster from day one. This is the best thing this useless government has ever done since they were elected last July.
Biggest flaw with this job was that some unqualified member of the public was tasked with trying to hold to account the most powerful and most experienced officers of every police force in the country. ie the chiefs.
Not an effing chance was that ever going to work.
Tell her to
Shut her f ing gob
Useless incompetent idiot
well bugger me a Labour supporter complaining about a labour policy ? well buckle up folks regionalisation will probably mean that the regional mayor will control it and all police and fire service will probably all join together .This will probably mean the poor police cover in rural area’s will be non existent because the cities will need more policing .Just watched the question being asked in the circus and guess what another non answer from a labour minister
Buck should stop at the Chief Constable. Don’t need political interference.
Get on with it, waste of public funds and the saving can be better spend elsewhere in crime prevention
Well she would wouldn’t she. Snouting in the trough!
A great decision by the government. Totally unnecessary role.
Aren’t they just combining the role with elected mayors like they already do in London
Glad she’s gone waste of space and money
Oh dear. How sad. Never mind.
Why is she so upset. Is it because she still want to go further in scalping local policing and closing down even more local police stations whilst she builds he kingdom even bigger
We don’t need PCC’s. Overpriced figure head . Get rid!
total waste of money, bet she wont say what her and her staffs wage bill per year comes to!! spend the money on more constables..