Anthony Stansfeld has been nominated as the Conservative candidate for the Thames Valley Police Commissioner. He was born in Newbury and W Berks has been his home all his life. His parents in law live in N Bucks. He is currently an executive member of West Berks Council, and is on the Thames Valley Police Authority. He took over as Chairman of the Performance Committee of the Thames Valley Police last year, during this period the overall crime rate has dropped by 15%, the greatest drop of any Police Force in England and Wales. He has, in conjunction with his Committee, set the exacting targets the Police have to achieve over the next few months. He concentrated his efforts on reducing rural crime, and improving household burglary detection rates, especially in Slough and Reading, neither of which has been up to standard in the past. He is also Vice Chair of the Audit, Governance and Risk Committee which oversees the financial affairs of the Police.
Anthony Stansfeld says:
"I am delighted to have been selected as the Conservative candidate for Police and Crime Commissioner for the Thames Valley Police area. I am not a politician, other than representing, at Council level, the village and area which has been my home all my life. I have no future political ambition, and if elected I will represent all the people of Thames Valley as their Police and Crime Commissioner.
I have been a member of the Police Authority for 6 years, and introduced Neighbourhood Policing and for the last year I have been Chairman of the Performance Committee which sets police targets and monitors current performance. During my time chairing the Committee our Police have seen the greatest crime reduction of any police force in England and Wales, and detection rates for burglary, especially in our major towns, have improved considerably, and we are getting control of metal thefts and rural crime.
I have had two careers, the first in the Army, which I joined at 17. I spent much of my time commanding helicopter Squadrons, as well as being in the infantry worldwide. I have also had a career in industry, much of it as Managing Director of a well known aircraft manufacturer. I have an MSc, and have studied terrorism and Global security at University. I believe my wide ranging experience will be of considerable value to the role I hope to take up, if elected by the people of Thames Valley.
I will continue to press forward with reducing crime and improving detection rates, which, in a time of austerity, will be a formidable task. The Thames Valley Police have managed to make many of the cuts required already, and have done so without reducing the numbers of police on the front line, while at the same time improving performance. There has been a marked improvement in efficiency already, and I fully expect this to continue."