West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner election

On 2nd May 2024, voters in the West Midlands will have their say on who represents them at Local council level; who will be the Mayor of the West Midlands and who will become the Police and Crime Commissioner.  In our series of election specials, we hear from the candidates who want your votes.

Tom Byrne

Tom Byrne

Conservative Party candidate

I’m Tom Byrne, your Conservative candidate for West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC).

I served the West Midlands, the region I call home, as a police officer for over five years. I’ve walked the beat, attended serious incidents, and later in my career commanded the response to firearms incidents – you won’t find many people in this election with the experience I have.

I know just how important strong leadership is to delivering effective policing.

This election really matters. The role of PCC is an important one: the PCC sets multi-million pound budgets and sets policing priorities for the region.

Since 2012, the people of the West Midlands have been let down by a succession of Labour PCCs. We have the highest rate of knife crime in the country,[1] our police force is in special measures, and the Labour PCC has recently announced plans to close at least 30 police stations across the West Midlands.

This can’t go on. It’s time for fresh leadership, to put an end to years of Labour failure.

My knowledge and understanding of policing, grounded in first-hand experience, make me the best person to get a grip on crime in our region. We need to halt our police station closures and strengthen local policing, whilst driving up the performance of our police force.

I have a clear plan to make our region safer:

  1. Immediately halt the proposed police station closures – and conduct a full review of the police estate.
  2. Stop bureaucratic and wasteful spending and return to proper local policing – deploying more officers to the frontline and ensuring their time is spent fighting crime.
  3. Crack down on violent crime, especially offences involving knives and weapons.
  4. Seize criminals’ ill-gotten gains and use the Proceeds of Crime Act to bolster the frontline and support victims.
  5. Get our police force out of special measures, drive up performance, and restore public confidence.

We deserve to feel safe in our communities, to have a visible local policing presence, and to know that the police force is there to provide a prompt and empathetic response when we need it – and I am the person to deliver this.

I am determined to make our region safer.

 

[1] Source: ONS police-recorded crime statistics, incidents of knife crime per 100,000 population, year ending September 2023.

About Tom Byrne

Tom Byrne is the Conservative Party candidate in the election for West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner on 2nd May 2024.

Tom served as a police officer with West Midlands Police for over five years, beginning his service as a Police Constable in Birmingham and concluding it as a Temporary Inspector in the Force Control Room. He joined West Midlands Police in 2016 after graduating from the University of Cambridge, where he studied Human, Social, and Political Sciences.

More recently, Tom worked in the office of West Midlands Mayor Andy Street. Outside of work, he serves as a governor of a secondary school and previously served as a trustee of a Birmingham-based domestic abuse charity.

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