“I welcome the Lincolnshire Police and Crime Panel Task Group’s Scrutiny Report into the Lincoln Police and Crime Commissioner, Alan Hardwick’s suspension last year of the Chief Constable, Neil Rhodes. The Chairman of the Task Group, Chris Cook and his Team have clearly spent a great deal of effort producing a thorough and persuasive report.
“Anyone in an elected position should act in a professional and courteous manner, regardless of any guidance in place or not. It was pretty clear to me at the time that the actions taken were not appropriate or of a suitable standard – suspending someone and then for a week giving no explanation at all as to what the allegations were.
“In this case the advice given and taken by those ‘professionals’ who work with the PCC was sadly substandard, disregarded completely the positions and career of those adversely affected and completely lacked professionalism as this draft report points out, extensively. This was entirely unprofessional form.
“The costs to police and senior police management morale, and in their time dealing with this issue, are probably extensive and, in this case, one could have guessed that the taxpayer would end up paying a substantial amount that would have been better spent protecting Lincolnshire residents and fighting crime.
“Many of those who gave and/or accepted advice that proved to be ill-defined, incomplete, inconclusive or just plain wrong, need to take a long look a themselves and their position. The age of ‘New Labour’ blamelessness has ended - everyone should be accountable for their actions, or inaction.
“I have always had a very strong working relationship with Neil Rhodes, who I feel has led our local Police Force with a great deal of loyalty, respect and success since April 2012. Just this week it was announced by the independent Office for National Statistics that recorded crime in Lincolnshire has fallen once again over the last twelve months – and has fallen by some 18 per cent since 2010. This is testament to the hard work of Lincolnshire’s Chief Constable, his senior management team and his police officers in Lincolnshire who can be rightly proud of their success in cutting crime.”
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For further information, please contact Karl McCartney MP at [email protected] / 020 7219 7221.