One month on from the PCC elections with Independent Dorset victor Martyn Underhill

(Date of submission and intended publication December 19th - NCTJ Portfolio) 

"The people of Dorset have spoken loud and clear, the party politics in Dorset don't work. I won in every voting area in Dorset and that says a lot, the people of Dorset have spoken…it's time to move forward." Those were the words of Martyn Underhill, the newly elected Police Crime Commissioner for Dorset, in his inaugural interview with BBC South.

The man with the weight of the Dorset on his shoulders, Independent PCC victor Martyn Underhill
| Photography: Martyn Underhill, via Twitter

The Independent candidate, won despite what he described as 'an appalling turnout' with 60.1%, (51,930) of Dorset's accumulated first and second choice votes, trumping Tory Nick King who trailed behind with the remaining 39.9% (34,451). Like most other counties in England and Wales, the elections received a poor turnout with between 12 - 20% in Dorset. Less than 96,150 (16.3%) of Dorset's population of over 715,000 exercised their right to elect their PCC candidate.

Of the 25 people we spoke to on the streets of Bournemouth, only ten of the 25 were able to recognise pictures of the PCC candidates for Dorset. A further four were able to point out Martyn Underhill as the victor.

Winton Shopkeeper Hamit Kircal, 24, did not vote in the election: “I haven’t even heard of the Police Crime Commissioner, I’m quite busy every day. If I had someone coming to my door who told me about this then I would have voted."

Dorothy Hurrell, 52, owner of a Winton B&B wasn't surprised by the low turnout: "You didn’t hear very much about it, my husband found out about the election on the internet."


Bournemouth University English student, Adam Fisher, 21, told of his voting experience: "There was a terrible turnout for the vote, we went in at nine o'clock to our polling centre, they told us that 'out of 3,000 people who could have done it only 120 people went in' an hour before polling closed"

The Springbourne resident added "I think you should vote, not everyone is able to vote in any election [across the world], so you have to use your right"

PCC Underhill 'wasn't shocked' by the low voting figures, he told to us in a telephone interview while raising money for Parkstone Rotary club.

"I met people on the elections who didn't know about the election," his answers interspersed with jingles of change and wishes of 'a Merry Christmas' to passersby donating to their fundraiser.

The 54-year-old ex-Sussex Detector Chief Inspector, who previously was second in command of the Sarah Payne Inquiry stood for a simple message, 'keep party politics of Dorset police force'.

PCC Underhill intends a multiphase plan of action to tackle Boscombe, most deprived area in the South West
| Photography: HomeOfficeUK

And with an accompanying £70,000 a year salary, a wealth of weight, pressure and promise overhangs PCC Underhill to fill the position's ambitiously sized boots and live up to the expectation of the public and the position's job description.

Underhill is a month into combatting the multifaceted problems facing Dorset by tackling antisocial behaviour problems affiliated with Bournemouth's nightlife, regenerating Boscombe and encouraging better interaction between the public and the police force.

Starting with Bournemouth's nightlife, built up by the stag and hen custom flooding the quiet coastal town of a weekend, Underhill hopes to curve drunken disorderly on its streets by finding a middle ground.

"We don't want stop pubs offering a couple of cheap shops but we need to engage with them to help the nighttime economy and not to stop people coming, striking a balance." 

Complemented by ministers' plans to raise the average price per unit of alcohol to 45p, which would preventing stores from selling a bottle of wine for less than £4.22 or a strong can of lager for £1.56.

Along with firmer regulations by police and Bournemouth council after nightclub Dusk Till Dawn had it's license revoked after raid in July, where three people were arrested for suspected drug offences.

The closure of the 'open until late' club, popular amongst Bournemouth's student population marks the start of tougher action against nightclubs not complying with local laws.

One victim of the Bournemouth's weekend drinking culture, who wished to remain anonymous, told of how he was attacked after a work Christmas party at the East Cliff Court Hotel. "I was punched in the face and I was shocked, I didn't report it at the time because I didn't think anything could be done."

He added: "This isn't the first time I've had someone square up to me after a night out in Bournemouth, drunken people out on a weekend look for fights."  

Councillor for Bournemouth Central, Robert Chapman, believes more cooperation between police and the council will aid the battle against lavish antisocial behaviour.

He said: "The problems with the night time economy are not just in Bournemouth, it's everywhere in the country. This will hopefully be a message to nightclubs owners to get their act together and work with us."

He added: "However I would and still feel safe walking down Bournemouth high street at night, I wouldn’t bother the drinkers and they wouldn't bother me."

Cllr Chapman, who is also Chairperson of the Overview and Scrutiny panel for Bournemouth's Economy and Trade believes these problems put off other visitors from sampling the areas restaurants and if a better balance was found both sides of the tourism could prosper.

Another challenge facing Dorset's PCC is Boscombe Central, named as the most deprived area in the South West of England.  

"We can change Boscombe and I’m determined I will," said PCC Underhill. This statement will come to the relief of many residents, who have seen the decay of their once beautiful seaside destination. 

The town hosts 60 drug and alcohol rehabilitations facilities, leading to other councils and South West prisons being able to send addicts to the area. But with just under 7% of addicts completing their programmes Mr Underhill and the council will be working with the prison services to help reduce the cluster of non-local residents and reduce the areas already swollen population size.

"We have to start right at the root of the problem stop, changing the demographic of Boscombe, then you need to change the landscape." 

As well being in talks over reducing the amount of Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) and trying to make the area more appealing in attempts to reduce the high percentage of people relocating out of Boscombe within a year of moving there. 

But only a month into the position, only time will dictate whether the Martyn Underhill can viably live up to the hype surrounding the PCC job.

He added: "People are seeing changes in the police force in the last three weeks. I’ve already started changing the direction of force, after three years I haven’t done my job properly if people haven’t seen the impact of what I’ve done. 

"I think It will be a different election [in 2016] with seven or eight candidates all vying for my role."