Last Police Authority Annual Meeting (22 Jun 2012)

At today’s last ever annual meeting of West Yorkshire Police Authority, Councillor Mark Burns-Williamson OBE was unanimously elected as Chair for the tenth year running.

Vice-Chair, Councillor Les Carter was also re-elected for a fifth year.

Two new councillor members were welcomed to the Police Authority. Councillor David Hall (Conservative) from Kirklees and Councillor Michael Walls (Conservative) from Bradford were appointed following the council elections in May.

Councillor Mark Burns-Williamson thanked his fellow members by saying, “It is still a great privilege to be re-elected as Chair of the Police Authority, even though there is just five months to go before the Authority is abolished in November.

“We have been preparing for the transition to the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for about a year now and are making good progress to ensure that everything is in place. At the same time, we have been continuing with the day job of budget and priority setting, and scrutinising how the chief constable is meeting the policing needs of the public in West Yorkshire. All members are committed to ensuring there is effective oversight of the Force right up until the end.”

Councillor Les Carter added his thanks to members by saying “I am very honoured to have been re-elected as Vice-Chair for the last few months. I have served on the Police Authority for nine years and am proud of the legacy that we shall be handing over to the Police and Crime Commissioner.”

During the meeting, the Police Authority’s Annual Report was officially launched highlighting the work of the Authority and the Force’s performance over the past year.

In his foreword, Mark Burns-Williamson congratulated the Chief Constable and everyone in the Force for achieving all the targets set in the previous year’s Policing Plan. He said it was impressive considering the financial pressures on the Force at present. Mark also reported that extra money had been made available to the Chief Constable in order to resume police officer recruitment.

The Annual Report is available by clicking on this link.