A low turnout is feared for the election of Cambridgeshire’s first ever Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC), which is taking place next month. On 15th November, seven candidates will be standing for the newly-created role: Ansar Ali, Independent; Sir Graham Bright, Conservative Party; Paul Bullen, UK Independence Party (UKIP); Stephen Goldspink, English Democrats; Farooq Mohammed, Independent; Rupert Moss-Eccardt, Liberal Democrats; and Ed Murphy, Labour Party. Cambridgeshire is one of fifteen forces that have no female candidates.

In total, 41 Police and Crime Commissioners will be elected in England and Wales, taking over the role of local police authorities. PCCs will be responsible for holding the chief constable to account, which includes the power to appoint and sack the chief constable; overseeing the budget and setting the council tax precept; making decisions on strategic policing priorities; and engaging with the local community. The elected candidates will receive an annual salary of between £65,000 and £100,000. The Police Commissioner for the Cambridgeshire Constabulary will be paid £70,000 a year.

Figures from the Electoral Reform Society suggest that only 18.5 per cent of the electorate will vote next month, in elections that will cost £75 million overall. If their prediction is correct, this would be the lowest ever turnout in a British election. The estimate is lower than the figure for the Cambridge City Council elections in May this year, when 32.2 per cent of those eligible voted.

The government has been criticised for holding the elections in November, when no other elections are being held. Research suggests that polls which take place during winter months achieve significantly lower turnout figures.

There have also been concerns about the lack of public awareness of these elections. Owain Richards, a second year history student at Gonville and Caius, said: “To be totally honest I didn’t even realise the police commissioner elections were happening. There hasn’t been a lot of coverage so I don’t feel that clued in. I probably won’t be voting simply because I don’t feel that I know enough about the issues at hand, and I think that is probably the same for most people in my year. I think people do have a genuine interest in more local elections, but the lack of information might discourage people from voting”.

The Home Office began sending leaflets to 21 million households this week as part of the government campaign to raise the profile of the elections. An Ipsos MORI poll commissioned by the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners’ Transitional Board indicates that awareness has increased: 62 per cent of those surveyed said that they knew that the elections were taking place. Nevertheless, 47 per cent responded that they either knew “not very much” or “nothing at all” about the elections, even if they knew that they were being held.

Anna Stansbury, a third-year economist at St John’s, thinks that even for students who regard themselves as politically aware, voting in the forthcoming elections is not at the top of their agenda: “I’m not sure people are convinced that police commissioners will be important enough. That’s why there’s apathy. If the elected commissioners do turn out to make significant changes, if they are accountable to their local people and become important community figures, I think people will start to vote and start to care.” However, she does believe that people should take the time to exercise their right to vote in the first PCC elections next month: “I think that we should all take the time to inform ourselves and vote, because this is exactly what a real democracy is about – giving local people tangible power over local issues.”

Former chief constable of Cambridgeshire Constabulary, Julie Spence, warned two years ago that proposed cuts to policing could lead to an “Armageddon” and reduce forces to only providing a “999 service”. The force was left with a £6 million gap in funding for 2011-12 following the government spending review in 2010. A further £10 million needs to be saved by 2015. This means that the budget will have to be cut by 20 per cent. Figures show that Cambridgeshire Police currently has the second lowest ratio of police officers to population in the region, with 174 per 100,000 people. The number of officers fell by 77 last year. In response to the cuts, Cambridgeshire Constabulary has formed a three-force strategic alliance with Bedfordshire Police and Hertfordshire Constabulary. The merger means that the forces have been able to set up joint units for armed policing, major crime and scientific services.

Collaboration will extend to ICT and the professional standards department. It is expected that the alliance will create annual savings of between £15 million and £20 million across the three forces by the end of 2015-16. The deadline to register to vote or apply for postal voting is Wednesday 31st October.