A FORMER police officer and longstanding local politician has thrown his hat into the ring to become the county’s first police and crime commissioner.

Conservative councillor Ian Gillies has applied to the party to stand as Tory candidate for North Yorkshire and York.

The role is publicly elected and has been developed to work with the public, while governing the police forces in different areas, with the power to hire and fire chief constables and set budgets.

Coun Gillies said as a former police constable and as a local councillor and political leader he has the skills in both the public and private sector that a police commissioner would need.

He said he feared, if handled badly, the role of police and crime commissioner would be a “potential political disaster” if the wrong person was elected – and said, if chosen, he would not “meddle” in police procedure or chase crime statistics, but would want to ensure frontline police officers had the freedom to get on with their job.

He said: “The public have a right to expect that their new police commissioner will work constructively with the police without being beholden to them, will be their voice while having the experience to promote such viewpoints within the realities of the political process and will be an effective leader on public safety issues as they affect North Yorkshire.”

The North Yorkshire PCC will be paid an annual salary of £70,000. The elections will be held on Thursday, November 15, with the PCCs starting work one week later.

People understood to have already expressed an interest in North Yorkshire include Conservative county councillors Mike Jordan and Carl Les, York Labour councillor Ruth Potter and former deputy chief constable Peter Walker.