IT’S NEVER good advice to tell people not to vote (Examiner, November 13), even when your own party is not fielding candidates.

Whether we think the establishment of Police Commissioners is a good idea or not, the reality is that they will have substantial powers to influence the safety and security of our communities.

My view is that Mark Burns-Williamson, the Labour candidate, has the skills and experience from his work as chair of the Police Authority to do an outstanding job as Commissioner.

But the message has got to be, whatever your preference, get out there and vote!

Cllr Paul Salveson

Labour, Golcar Ward

Experience needed

TO BE a crime commissioner I thought you would have to have knowledge of what the police do and how they do it.

So why are politicians up for this job and not high ranking police officers that have worked up from bobbies on the beat?

I cant see politicians knowing how the police are allowed to deal with crimes like anti-social behaviour, burglary, assault and death.

Only after a year’s experience of dealing with crimes like that should they be allowed to apply just like you need for every other job.

It seems to me we are voting for a political party to take over the police and nothing more.

Vanessa Mallalieu

Quarmby

Send a message

I AM SURE that many people believe, as I do, that this election is unnecessary and represents a monumental waste of public money at a time when public services are faced with savage cuts.

We already have a Police Authority comprising elected members from the five West Yorkshire districts who are charged with doing the job a Commissioner will do.

I for one am very wary of their powers being transferred to one individual who may or may not be up to the job.

I am also concerned that a Commissioner will be less accountable to the public he or she serves than is the present Police Authority.

I would urge everyone who shares these views not simply to boycott the election on Thursday but to register their disapproval of the process by submitting a so-called spoilt ballot paper which does not record a vote for any of the candidates.

A vote for no-one is as valid as a vote for someone and sends a message that the politicians should sit up and take notice of.

Perhaps it is time that all election ballot papers include the additional choice “none of the above”.

Bill Hunter

Honley

Who are candidates?

NICE little earner if elected. £100,00 annual pay salary for the new West Yorkshire Crime Commissioner’s role.

I cannot support a Green candidate but I take my hat off to them for decrying this farce.

What do these people know of crime protection and how the police do their job?

I would have liked to have known their backgrounds and qualifications for this over inflated salaried job.

Why do most of the positions in the public sector above the general workforce command such high salaries? Oh, it’s public money we can pay them what we can get away with.

The candidates for this position from the little that I know of them appear to be politicians.

The last thing we need is a politician in the role of Crime Commissioner for West Yorkshire.

I for one will not be voting as I do like to make a choice blind. For any job in life you have to explain your background, qualifications and what you feel you will bring to the role not so with the Crime Commissioner’s role.

One thing we do know and that is who will be paying for it. Obviously none of our services have been affected by the austerity belt tightening otherwise we could not have afforded this new role.

R J Bray

Shelley

Temporary rules?

JUST WHAT are the criteria for the deployment of temporary traffic lights at roadworks?

As I have been travelling round over the past few days, the majority of these wretched things that I have seen have been placed at sites where the road visibility is fine and the roadworks (or sometimes pavement works) take up less room than a parked car.

And we in Huddersfield know too well how often we have to negotiate parked cars, without the benefit of any traffic control!

Nine times out of ten it could easily be left to motorists to do what they normally do scores of times a day, just give way to oncoming traffic in turn.

The other peculiar thing that I have noticed about temporary traffic lights: they always seem to be deployed in places where absolutely nothing is happening!

Alan Starr

Golcar

Family concerns

AS the nana of William, a two-year-old little boy with Downs Syndrome whose parents want him to go into mainstream education in two years time, I must express my concerns about the proposals of the Shelley high School head and its governors.

We, as a family hoped that William would join his sister at Thurstonland first school before moving up to Kirkburton Middle School until he reaches the age of 13 when his educational needs could be reassessed with a view to moving up to Shelley High School.

If the small minority of elitists that are running Shelley High School get their way, it will undoubtedly mean the closure of small schools like Thurstonland as well as our OFSTED outstanding middle schools and subsequently the loss of hope in the form of education for many of the children in the catchment area.

Where will this leave our precious little boy and all the other children with varying difficulties?

All I ask is for a mainstream education for these children. They may not be academics, but they deserve a decent education with their peers in a school system that works for all children whatever their ability.

Denise Roberts

Almondbury

Smoking solution?

THE PROPOSED parking fee increases and the cosmetic improvements to the entrance area at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary (Examiner November 10), will, I understand, ultimately lead to additional revenue for the trust and perpetuate possibly further improvements.

Might we now expect a sustained and genuinely concerted effort to push for a workable solution to the problem of inconsiderate smokers hanging around the doorways, polluting all and sundry trying to enter with second hand smoke and littering the entrance with cigarette ends – as well as ignoring polite requests to use the smoking shelter

Name and address supplied

Huddersfield