UKIP select Leicestershire county councillor David Sprason as police and crime commissioner candidate

Mr Sprason, Leicestershire county councillor for Markfield, Desford and Thornton, has previously worked with the police and helped launch the innovative ‘keep safe cards’ designed for vulnerable people across the force area.

David was, for a number of years, a member of the Crime and Safety Partnership that introduced crime prevention projects and a reassurance strategy to help address the fear of crime.

He believes the best form of ‘reassurance policing’ is having beat teams as part of the community - having boots on the ground to help tackle anti-social behaviour and persistent offending.

He said: “The Leicestershire police force, like other forces across the country, has seen its Government grant slashed leaving them with a challenging budget.

“We need to look at innovative ways to save money while protecting front line services. Quickly moving forward on sharing services with other forces across the East Midlands is one way we could do this. We also need to be looking to deliver on a single emergency service call centre.

“Issues that come across my desk all the time are speeding and HGVs not following the designated routes. “These are a police responsibility so I’d like to see if we can bring a solution to these problems.”