Olly Martins

Commissioner Olly Martins
Bedfordshire Police and Crime Commissioner
Incumbent
Assumed office 15 November 2012
Preceded by	Office created
Personal details
Born	17 December 1969 Cambridge
Political party	Labour Co-op
Residence	Luton
Education	Flegg High School
Alma mater	University of Liverpool
Website	http://www.ollymartins.org

Oliver James Martins(born 17 December 1969 in Cambridge) is the Labour and Co-operative Bedfordshire Police and Crime Commissioner.

He is the first person to hold the post and was elected on 15 November 2012.^[1] and took the Oath of office live on air at a local BBC radio station. He has pledged that his office and staff will be less expensive than the old police authority.
Olly Martins lives in the High Town area of Luton, Bedfordshire. Martins spent eight years working for Victim Support in the Toxteth area of Liverpool, first as a volunteer while at University and then as a service co-ordinator. He is a serving member in the Territorial Army and was mobilised as a United Nations peacekeeper to Cyprus UNFICYP in 2011.^[2]

Police and Crime Commissioner for Bedfordshire

Commissioner Olly Martins was opposed to plans to outsource police services to G4S.^[3] On 29 January 2013 it was announced that the G4S plan involving three police force, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire had been scrapped.^[4]

Commissioner Martins reversed the planned scrapping of half the PCSOs in Bedfordshire.^[5][6][7]

The BBC Politics Show East described him as by far the most radical Police Commissioner in the region.^[8] He is calling for persistent offenders to be fitted with GPS tags on a compulsory basis so they can be tracked in real time.^{[9][10][11][12][13]}

In May 2013 Commissioner Martins appointed Colette Paul QPM as the new Chief Constable for Bedfordshire.^[14] Ms Paul was Deputy Chief Constable for South Wales police.^[15][16] She has said about the Commissioner, "Olly Martins is committed to improving policing, as am I, so we have a good working relationship already." ^[17]

The Commissioner is aiming to double the number of Special Constables in the Bedfordshire Police force.^{[18] [19]} The roll-out of Body Worn Video (BWV) cameras for officers and PCSOs started in June 2013.^[20] Public panels scrutinise the stop and search paperwork and video footage from police officers.^[21] He is introducing high-tech tablet devices for Police officers as part as part of a drive to get them spending more time on the streets.^[22] In 2014 Bedfordshire Police allowed The Garden Productions to make 24 Hours In Police Custody.a series for Channel 4 with hidden cameras in Luton Police station. The series received rave reviews. ^{[23] [24] [25][26][27]}

In April 2014, Mr Martin's proposed candidate for the role of Chief of Staff was not recommended by the Police and Crime Panel, who had concerns about her ability to conduct the role and set out a recommendation of an enhanced induction and training if she were still appointed to bridge the skills gap. ^[28] Despite this, Nanci Hogan was still appointed his Chief of Staff. ^[29]

In January 2015 the commissioner announced plans to consult the public whether they would be prepared to pay 16% extra on the police precept to fund 100 more police officers across Bedfordshire.^{[30][31][32][33]}

On 5th February, Commissioner Martins announced that he would hold the first ever police precept referendum in the country. The Bedfordshire-wide referendum will take place on May 7, the same day as the UK general election. ^[34]

He was cleared by the CPS ^[35]after an investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission for releasing sensitive information regarding a death in police custody.^[36]

The Result

The far-right British Freedom Party is now defunct.

External links

• Olly Martins's web site
• PCC website

References