I WAS surprised to read in this newspaper that our Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Bill Longmore would be disappointed if people did not look back on his tenure as a positive one.

As a former police officer who still likes to keep abreast of what is happening in the policing world, I genuinely don’t have a clue what our PCC has actually been doing during the first 12 months of his tenure or what, if anything, he has achieved.

The PCC for our neighbouring force West Midlands, Bob Jones, has a very high national profile.

He is regularly interviewed in the local and national media and also has a high profile on social media websites.

It is obvious Mr Jones has a great understanding of police management.

Mr Longmore does not seen to have embraced the internet and is very rarely seen or mentioned in the local media, never mind national.

Even during the recent national coverage of the “Plebgate” incident, involving Police Federation members from local Midlands forces including West Mercia, Mr Longmore was invisible in the media, unlike the PCCs for West Midlands and Warwickshire.

On the very few occasions I have seen Mr Longmore in the media, I have been very unimpressed by him.

I am afraid I have to agree with the recommendations of the Lord Stevens Inquiry into policing, whicht was commissioned by the Labour Party, which concluded the PCC experiment has been a failure and that they should be replaced with a body similar to the old Police Authorities, albeit with more directly elected people.

Sadly, Mr Longmore, you were given the opportunity to persuade us the PCC experiment was fit for purpose.

You have failed. I look forward to a future change of government and the demise of this failed PCC experiment.

BERNARD McELDOWNEY Lickey End Bromsgrove