A THIRD candidate has entered the race to permanently replace Barry Coppinger, the former Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) for Cleveland.

Liberal Democrat Chris Jones will join the Conservatives’ Steve Turner and former Labour MP Dr Paul Williams on the ballot papers in the election on May 6.

Councillor Jones, who represents the West Dyke ward on Redcar and Cleveland Council, is a member of the Cleveland Police and Crime Panel, which scrutinises the work of the PCC.

He is also on the overview and scrutiny committee at the Tees Valley Combined Authority.

Cllr Jones, who works as a manager for a large social housing company, said: “I have spent the last six years as a member of the Police and Crime Panel, which has given me an insight into policing processes and the role of the commissioner, so I am well aware of what needs to be done to improve policing in the area.

“I have never held back challenging policies and holding those responsible for them to account. 

“Cleveland Police should be given sufficient resources to tackle crime and as a PCC I would work to make sure they are used effectively.

“I know how frustrating and scary it can be when crime touches your life and it can leave victims and their families with devastating effects afterwards.

“Doing their job is often full of red tape for the police – I want to help change that and provide a service that protects everyone.”

Cllr Jones told the LDRS he wanted the Cleveland force to “work smarter so officers spend less time pushing pens and more time policing the streets”, having seen officers stymied by paperwork.

He also said that closer partnership working with organisations involved in the criminal justice system was key moving forward, including probation, prisons and charities such as Victim Support.

He said much of his focus would be on drugs and he planned to use social media as a way of engaging with young people.

He would also continue to be a big supporter of the Middlesbrough-based heroin assisted treatment programme, which launched in July 2019 under Mr Coppinger’s tenure.

The pilot scheme administers pharmaceutical grade diamorphine with supervision from clinical staff to high risk individuals committing crimes to pay for entrenched addictions – the aim being to support long term recovery and the stopping of offending behaviour.

Cllr Jones said: “We need to treat addicts as victims and show them a way out.

“We have been fighting the war on drugs for more than 50 years and not getting very far.

“Taking one heroin addict and turning their lives around removes hundreds of victims of crime a year.” 

He said he was in favour of the Liberal Democrat manifesto, which calls for cannabis to be legalised.

Cllr Jones said: “I realise it is controversial.

“However the time and effort police spend dealing with this could be diverted towards more damaging drugs such as heroin, cocaine and amphetamine.”

In 2018 Cllr Jones lodged a grievance against Cleveland Police over the way it treated vulnerable children after his experience with call handlers in reporting the case of a missing 15-year-old girl he had concerns about.

Cllr Jones, who is a foster carer, told a previous meeting of the police and crime panel the attitude had been “we’re not a taxi service”.

A damning inspection report on the force, published in September 2019, found it was failing to identify vulnerable victims, providing poor or significantly delayed responses and failing to offer adequate safeguarding.

It subsequently took its call handling service back in-house, providing additional training for staff and a specialist ‘vulnerability desk’, with a follow-up by inspectors finding handlers were better at identifying risks and vulnerabilities.

However more needed to be done to identify repeat victims, inspectors said, and there were often delays in looking for missing children not deemed to be very high risk.

The force has also introduced a review of the processes around missing people and established a dedicated group to deal with missing children.

PCCs hold chief constables to account on behalf of the public.

Barry Coppinger spent eight years as the Cleveland PCC, but resigned last year blaming “considerable, cumulative stress” that was impacting his health.

The post has since been held on an acting basis by Lisa Oldroyd, who joined the commissioner’s office having been previously appointed as its assistant chief executive by Mr Coppinger, and will relinquish the role once a new PCC is elected.