Martyn Underhill is named Police and Crime Commissioner

12:31pm Friday 16th November 2012 in News

UPDATED: Martyn Underhill has been named as Dorset Police and Crime Commissioner.

The Independent candidate polled 51,930 votes and runner up was Conservative Nick King with 34,451.

The first round of vote counting finished earlier at the Lighthouse in Poole.

No candidate received more than 50 per cent of the vote. The second choices of those who voted for Andrew Canning and Rachel Rogers were then counted.

The first round results were: Andrew Canning, Liberal Democrat, poled 9,963 votes, Nick King, Conservative, received 31,165 votes, Rachel Rogers, Labour, poled 11,596 votes and Martyn Underhill, Independent, received 43,425.

Comments(46)

cecilbdoomil says...
1:18pm Fri 16 Nov 12

Thank god no Labour candidate is involved.

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Clarity68 says...
1:25pm Fri 16 Nov 12

So with a 16% turnout, no candidate is supported by more than 8% of the Dorset voting public? No mandate, no legitimacy. At least it looks like the Independent - not a party politico like Nick "failed to be an MP? Try PCC!" King.

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Preston Resident says...
1:28pm Fri 16 Nov 12

No, weve only got two people who have spent a fortune of somebody elses money.

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cecilbdoomil says...
2:18pm Fri 16 Nov 12

Preston Resident wrote:
No, weve only got two people who have spent a fortune of somebody elses money.
Sounds like British Politics and the civil service to me:-)

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The Fish says...
2:42pm Fri 16 Nov 12

As an independent Martyn Underhill would have to had fund himself - no party to support him.

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Hateignorance says...
2:46pm Fri 16 Nov 12

An Independent wins - just hope he is truly representative of Dorset. No to privatisation, cuts and sucking up to local right wing rags.

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wessex-andy says...
2:56pm Fri 16 Nov 12

Usually I never miss voting in an election, but in this instance I didn't vote because I had no interest in this particular election at all. But from the tiny little bit of information that was handed out, it would seem that it was entirely political (most of the candidates were supported by a political party). I would have thought that politics should have no part in policing the country.

We are now lumbered with having to pay someone a huge salary -- the kind that the vast majority of us can only dream about. And all they will be doing to have it handed to them is a job that was already being done (albeit in a different way).

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Mrs Grumps says...
3:01pm Fri 16 Nov 12

I just hope that he keeps his independence but listens to his electorate. I was pleased to see he won by a mile, helped a lot by apathy and suspicion of political parties, I suspect. When I voted at 2.30pm I was told that our polling station had had just 57 people through. I hoped some would vote on their way home from work.

I would like to thank those who gave up a whole day waiting to give voting slips to voters, sometimes in cold rooms, hardly seeing anyone. It must have been very tedious for them.

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Dave SW says...
3:18pm Fri 16 Nov 12

Nice to see an Independant has won the job that was listed as being 'impartial'.

At least the attempts by the political parties to high jack the PCC failed in Dorset,

I am unable see how the others could have been 'impartial' they would probably have had to tow the party line I feel sure.

Well done Mr. Underhill. But remember we will be watching!!

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TenBobDylanThomasHardy says...
3:19pm Fri 16 Nov 12

I find the 'lack of information' argument utterly pathetic. There was plenty of information in the news and on the Internet, including Wikipedia and a 'personal website' for our chosen candidate.
Equally, massaging the numbers to claim he has 'less than 8% of the voting public' is incorrect, 84% chose not to vote, therefore they are not 'the voting public'.

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Verbose says...
3:19pm Fri 16 Nov 12

Better turnout than the local poll for the WDDC offices then!

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Foursite says...
3:34pm Fri 16 Nov 12

The Birmingham Six were six men sentenced to life imprisonment in 1975 in England for the Birmingham pub bombings. Their convictions were declared unsafe and unsatisfactory and quashed by the Court of Appeal on 14 March 1991. The six men were later awarded compensation ranging from £840,000 to £1.2 million. This was tax payer’s money and just one reason to keep politics out of policing. Congratulations Martyn Underhill

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JimmyTheWeed says...
3:56pm Fri 16 Nov 12

I have trouble voting, as all the political parties have failed me. However I did know one of the candidates in this one, and I know they would do a good job, regardless of their political direction.

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Preston Terra says...
3:58pm Fri 16 Nov 12

Congratulations to Martyn Underhill who had my vote. I pleased the Tory, King, who came over as a sneering shady sort of character got defeated.

I think that the Police Commissioner role could be a very valuable one if they don't just become the pawns of the Chief Constables.

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westendcat says...
4:13pm Fri 16 Nov 12

I seem to recall that Mr Underhill has has a past in the force - I hope that he is not entrenched in the current ways of the police. We need to move away from their social engineering, get back to basics and concentrate on their core business of eradicating crime.
We'll be watching as a previous blogger has commented.

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Simonleak says...
4:26pm Fri 16 Nov 12

Well done Martyn Underhill a great campaign.
This is the first time I have ever voted for an independent candidate normally preferring to vote Conservative.
Unfortunately the cornyness and fake smiles of Nick King during the election for mid Dorset and now Police Commissioner really grates on all Conservatives that I have spoke to and myself.
Having discussed issues in the community with M King face to face it was obvious that if it was not on his agenda and wouldn't get his name in the paper then he showed none or little interested.
It is time the Conservatives found a more worthy and true candidate in Dorset and one that lives in the county would be great!

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CoogarUK.com says...
4:36pm Fri 16 Nov 12

Verbose wrote:
Better turnout than the local poll for the WDDC offices then!
Marginally. That was put at 15.4% if I recall correctly.

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biggestoaf says...
5:06pm Fri 16 Nov 12

How can you keep "politics out of policing"? These comments demonstrate how few people understand what politics means. Politics is about power, decision making, accountability, managing change, deciding priorities and resolving differences of opinion. You can't "keep politics out" of any aspect of public life. If you mean "keep party politics out" then you make a dangerous assumption that by definition an "independent" candidate is driven purely by a desire "to serve the people" rather than by any kind of personal belief, philosophy or ideology (which seems to me to be highly unlikely) Political parties are simply groups of people who share a similar set of beliefs in how to improve society. The newly elected PCC will have to make decisions about priorities against the background of a dwindling budget from the Home Office. The role is about as political as any role can be! The problem he will face is that now the government will be able to dodge the blame for cuts to the police service and pass the blame on to the PCC instead.

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biggestoaf says...
5:10pm Fri 16 Nov 12

How can you keep "politics out of policing"? These comments demonstrate how few people understand what politics means. Politics is about power, decision making, accountability, managing change, deciding priorities and resolving differences of opinion. You can't "keep politics out" of any aspect of public life. If you mean "keep party politics out" then you make a dangerous assumption that by definition an "independent" candidate is driven purely by a desire "to serve the people" rather than by any kind of personal belief, philosophy or ideology (which seems to me to be highly unlikely) Political parties are simply groups of people who share a similar set of beliefs in how to improve society. The newly elected PCC will have to make decisions about priorities against the background of a dwindling budget from the Home Office. The role is about as political as any role can be! The problem he will face is that now the government will be able to dodge the blame for cuts to the police service and pass the blame on to the PCC instead.

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bootedsw says...
6:07pm Fri 16 Nov 12

this passed me by, there was no adverts, nothing shooved thru the door apart from a voting card. Bit of a damp squid! So instead of an authority with differing views we now get a one man band with his own personal views and this is progress.

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Hateignorance says...
6:38pm Fri 16 Nov 12

It appears that the deputy editor of the Bournemouth Echo was the chair of the panel that chose Nick King and the editor of the local Echo is a friend of Richard Drax. I hope the local in it for themselves brigade does not allow their corporate mouth piece to make any derogatory comments as democracy is being undermined enough by their partiality.

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cecilbdoomil says...
6:49pm Fri 16 Nov 12

Behold your democracy...now watch the repeat episodes....

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staffs says...
7:01pm Fri 16 Nov 12

Martyn Underhill was my first choice, he seemed to have some experience in policing and he was a good break from the regular party politics.

I went for Nick King second, simply because it would be a laugh to have a police commissioner called Nicking. :)

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CharlieBarley says...
8:06pm Fri 16 Nov 12

Another enormous salary to be paid, no doubt plus healthy pension contributions. He'll inevitably have staff to support him, an office plus the additional impact on senior police officers time all to be paid for from our taxes - what a complete waste of money. Surely if we're trying to reduce spending we could live without PCCs.

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ksmain says...
8:31pm Fri 16 Nov 12

biggestoaf wrote:
How can you keep "politics out of policing"? These comments demonstrate how few people understand what politics means. Politics is about power, decision making, accountability, managing change, deciding priorities and resolving differences of opinion. You can't "keep politics out" of any aspect of public life. If you mean "keep party politics out" then you make a dangerous assumption that by definition an "independent" candidate is driven purely by a desire "to serve the people" rather than by any kind of personal belief, philosophy or ideology (which seems to me to be highly unlikely) Political parties are simply groups of people who share a similar set of beliefs in how to improve society. The newly elected PCC will have to make decisions about priorities against the background of a dwindling budget from the Home Office. The role is about as political as any role can be! The problem he will face is that now the government will be able to dodge the blame for cuts to the police service and pass the blame on to the PCC instead.
Unfortunately, I dont agree with you.

The police should always be independent of any political party. This is where I think that this election was totally wrong, in that there should have been no candidates allowed to stand for this jobs that indicate any affiliation to a political party. Given that that has happened, I cannot see how the police force can remain independent in areas where the elected official is affiliated and stands for a political party.

Apart from anything else I can't see what these commissioners are going to do, and what real power they will exercise. So they can hire and fire - on the basis of what; because they are rubbish at their job/have overspent their budget/don't fit in with the commissioner's political beliefs? It is just another unnecessary level of bureaocracy, at more cost to the taxpayer. I find this a bit obscene when frontline government staff are losing their jobs in current 'austerity' measures.

As far as the low turnout, I am not surprised if the local campaign is anything to go by. I didnt see any publicity, any of the candidates or any material stating what they stood for. Hence I wasn't going to waste my time going out to vote.

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annotator1 says...
8:35pm Fri 16 Nov 12

cecilbdoomil wrote:
Thank god no Labour candidate is involved.
Couldn't agree more.

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kildare43 says...
8:52pm Fri 16 Nov 12

Two things wrong with these comments. "Accountability" there is none in this country, and No Publicity", there was plenty out there.

I voted under protest but I'm glad at least a policeman got in and not a career politician.

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saildorset says...
9:25pm Fri 16 Nov 12

Martyn, you got my vote, though we never did see any publicity from your corner.
Andy Canning's blurb was occasionally coming into my e-mail inbox and indeed through the letterbox.
Nothing from the other 2 candidates.
As has been said in previous comments we shall be watching, so do a good job, be worthy.

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biggestoaf says...
9:39pm Fri 16 Nov 12

ksmain - I probably didn't explain myself very well. I wasn't advocating or endorsing political party involvement. My point was that whoever was elected would be a political (not necessarily PARTY political) figure and that people shouldn't vote for an "independent" candidate on the assumption that they would be getting a non-political person (though they might get a non-party political person). Policing is inevitably a political issue because it is about managing resources, decision making, accountability etc etc (but I understand why many people don't want it to be party political) However, at the end of the day, the police cannot be independent of political parties since their boss is the Home Secretary - a party politician.

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banknote says...
10:12pm Fri 16 Nov 12

Simonleak wrote:
Well done Martyn Underhill a great campaign.
This is the first time I have ever voted for an independent candidate normally preferring to vote Conservative.
Unfortunately the cornyness and fake smiles of Nick King during the election for mid Dorset and now Police Commissioner really grates on all Conservatives that I have spoke to and myself.
Having discussed issues in the community with M King face to face it was obvious that if it was not on his agenda and wouldn't get his name in the paper then he showed none or little interested.
It is time the Conservatives found a more worthy and true candidate in Dorset and one that lives in the county would be great!
Absolutely right Simonleak. As a lifelong Conservative member and former area officer, I was appalled by the choice of Nick King. He behaved in interviews as though his brain had been removed, no personality, no commonsense, no nothing.

Come on Conservatives, you can do far better than this for any future elections?

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slayerofsacredcows says...
10:44pm Fri 16 Nov 12

Congratulations to Martyn and those who voted not to politicise the police:

This was a silly idea badly implemented. The Home Secretary should resign!

The alternative, which was to elect some or all of the members of the police authority, who in turn elect their chairman was a much better idea. (as proposed by the Liberal Democrats)

A committee is always better than an individual, because it filters out individual prejudices and personality conflicts and presents a more balanced view. Also it is easier for the plurality of members to be more accessible to a large electorate.

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biggestoaf says...
11:50pm Fri 16 Nov 12

At the risk of sounding like a broken record you cannot "vote to not politicise the police." The police have always been politicised and always will be. They were set up by politicians, they enforce the laws of the state, and they have always had political masters. Independent PCCs are still politicians because they are involved in the political process. They may not be members of political parties but they are still engaged in politics and they will take political decisions because politics is about allocation of resources, prioritising, accountability and power. It is impossible to be a non-political PCC.

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ksmain says...
1:20am Sat 17 Nov 12

As usual this country knows how to waste money, and yet another level of bureaocracy that is not needed.

So where do we stop now? Perhaps we should employ NHS Commissioners to make the NHS accountable for itself and to hire and fire NHS employees. Or how about one for the Fire Service?

There are people in these organisations employed to do this already, and at some point you need to let them try to do their job without unnecessary government interference.

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dickieboy07 says...
4:00am Sat 17 Nov 12

Ksmain you are right, we already had an efficient police authority with elected members from our communities.They actually lived and worked with us. Now we through a flawed process have entrusted an ex chief Inspector - Not really a strategic position!! - from Sussex to run Dorset police.
Will be keen to see his strategic policing plan in a couple of months time.
TJF?

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cj07589 says...
7:59am Sat 17 Nov 12

annotator1 wrote:
cecilbdoomil wrote:
Thank god no Labour candidate is involved.
Couldn't agree more.
+1 agreed very pleased an independent of the traitor political parties has been selected. Well done Martyn!

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PORTLAND ROVER says...
8:01am Sat 17 Nov 12

And when it all goes to rats.... The prime Minister will say 'Well, you lot voted him in!'
Could this be the reason for Localism? The Big Society? To apportion blame to the citizens when it all goes wrong?
Having said that, I think Mr Underhill got the vote due to his 'Independance'. Although we know that this does not really mean anything, as certain local elections in the past will dictate. 'Get voted on as an Independant, then change allegence upon being voted in'. I don't need to name names. However, it is all allowed by law. We just have to watch carefully.

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annotator1 says...
10:05am Sat 17 Nov 12

CharlieBarley wrote:
Another enormous salary to be paid, no doubt plus healthy pension contributions. He'll inevitably have staff to support him, an office plus the additional impact on senior police officers time all to be paid for from our taxes - what a complete waste of money. Surely if we're trying to reduce spending we could live without PCCs.
Quite agree and less than 8% of the population voted for him. Popular vote? No, a scandalous vote!

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monkeydog says...
12:33pm Sat 17 Nov 12

cecilbdoomil wrote:
Thank god no Labour candidate is involved.
And a woman!!

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malkie says...
12:56pm Sat 17 Nov 12

Watching local TV news last night, the Tories really "threw their teddy out of the pram", not even having the good manners to wait until the result was officially announced before leaving.

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weymouthfox says...
3:38pm Sat 17 Nov 12

The election of Mr. Underhill is a message that voters are fedup with party politics and councillors who are both incompetent and have their hands in somebody else's pocket. If only some independent people could be found in Weymouth to stand against the incompetent party hacks.

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biggestoaf says...
5:33pm Sat 17 Nov 12

I suspect Mr Underhill is not as independent as you might think. If you received one of his election leaflets posted through your door (not hand delivered by a helper) did you stop to think how that was paid for? Has Mr Underhill publicly stated whether or not he is a freemason? The other candidates did. My understanding is that his campaign cost something in the region of £25000. Some local businessmen felt it was worth spending that kind of money to help get him elected. Still think there are no hands in someone else's pocket?

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Trackerman says...
2:47pm Mon 19 Nov 12

Mr Underhill
Sounds like a hobbit name.
Never heard of him where did he campaign? What does he stand for?

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lifecoach says...
3:30pm Mon 19 Nov 12

Funding and donations should never be allowed for an election of this nature. Surely the first job of someone in such a position should be to fully declare all donations, allegiences and memberships. (maybe this has been done already!)
What happened to a good old fashioned campaign and vote where the best person and not the best funded person won!

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ex sapper says...
5:36pm Mon 19 Nov 12

As he can't do every thing on his own,is it a coincidence that the retiring seior officer will be his paid advisors. nice work if you can get it

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albula40 says...
6:31pm Mon 19 Nov 12

I think all should read this throughly. It shows, at least MU's aims. If these are followed,with your help, we may have a little different police force. Read about the Forums. Quite interesting and something we can all be part of, if we apply.

http://www.keeppolit
icsoutofpolicing.co.
uk/blog/

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rogerlu says...
12:29pm Tue 20 Nov 12

If Underhill is a genuine independent then he must be quite wealthy; spent at least £20K notifying postal voters, He either has wealthy shadowy backers or police pensions are better than I thought.

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