West Northamptonshire Councillor Danielle Stone was successful in this year’s elections, which took place on Thursday 2 May, with the Labour candidate receiving more than 43,000 votes, and almost 4,000 more than her closest rival, the Conservative candidate Martin Emberton.

“We congratulate Danielle on her election to the post of PFCC,” says Sam, “We were really pleased to meet her in pre-election briefings, when we also met Liberal Democrat candidate Ana Savage Gunn. It was good to hear their views and explain to them our perspective of policing Northamptonshire at this time. They both showed great interest and concern in the issues we discussed.

“We now look forward to developing and building this relationship with our new Commissioner as she takes office in challenging times in our county and for the police service as a whole. This is such an important appointment for Northamptonshire and our members.

“We hope that we can sit down with Danielle soon to discuss her plans, and also raise our own concerns on behalf of members. We know that Danielle is equally as keen to foster those relationships with the Federation.

“Policing is in crisis. Officers feel undervalued by the Government, that their pay doesn’t reflect the challenges and risks of their role, and their morale is low. We are a year out of a recruitment drive that increased officer numbers but we are facing a retention crisis that threatens to undo the gains we have made.

“Some of the issues that are affecting our members are not within the PFCC’s remit, but we would like to see her act to support officers where she can and we hope she will also speak up on officers’ behalf when she is in meetings locally, regionally and nationally.”