FURTHER to the article headlined "Mayor calls for police boss to resign for a fresh start" (Echo, Jul 9), this call was made by Middlesbrough mayor Andy Preston for the Cleveland Police and Crime Commissioner Barry Coppinger to stand down from his position in his highly paid political job.

Many will agree with Mr Preston that Mr Coppinger has had plenty of time to put right the issues within the Cleveland force and a fresh start is needed quickly.

The real problem, however, is that seven years of the Tory Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) policy has been an expensive failure.

This was recently reiterated by a former top police officer who expressed concerns at the huge expense of the forthcoming PCC by-election in Northumbria where Vera Baird QC (former Redcar MP) is stepping down and moving on to a new Victim Support top post. The cost of this by-election is £2m, and to add insult to the taxpayers’ injury, is there will be an election for the Northumbria PCC next year.

Stockton Councillor Norma Stephenson, chair of the PCC panel, praised a 100 per cent turnout at a recent panel meeting.

This does not detract from the reality that the PCC is a toothless tiger that is virtually powerless and along with other PCCs, should be replaced with a better system.

George Dunning, former Police & Crime Panel member, Ormesby