Alan Charles was the

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

Derbyshire Police and Crime Commissioner The Derbyshire Police and Crime Commissioner is the police and crime commissioner, an elected official tasked with setting out the way crime is tackled by Derbyshire Police in the English County of Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial c ...

from 2012 to 2016. He was the first person to hold the post, having been elected on 15 November 2012. In July 2015, Charles announced that he would not be seeking re-election to the position because he "wanted to spend more time with his family".

Early life

Charles was born on 20 January 1950 in Hayes,

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

. He attended Southall Grammar School which he left in 1966 before going on to

Uxbridge College Uxbridge College is a large general further education college in the London Borough of Hillingdon. Since 2017 the college has been merged with Harrow College, although it retains its individual identity. It has two campuses, in Uxbridge and in Hay ...

where he trained to become an electrician. He completed his training in 1970.

Career

Charles served his apprenticeship as an electrician at a London mental hospital, before starting a workers' co-operative in the energy management industry. In 1993, he left this position in order to serve as Derbyshire County Councillor for Killamarsh. In 1999, he was appointed as Chair of the Education Committee, a position which he held until 2009. He was then appointed to the Derbyshire Police Authority and became Vice-Chair.

Derbyshire Police and Crime Commissioner

In 2012, Charles stood in the elections for Police and Crime Commissioner, which replaced the Police Authority. He took a position against "

G4S G4S is a British Multinational corporation, multinational private security company headquartered in London, England. The company was set up in 2004 when London-based Securicor amalgamated with Danish firm Group 4 Falck. The company offers a ran ...

-type privatisation" of police support services during the campaign, wearing a wristband with the words "Keep Policing Public". He promised to "protect vulnerable people" and victims of crime, focussing on domestic abuse. He also pledged to fight against cuts to the Derbyshire policing budget beyond a pre-announced 20%. Other pledges included improving road safety, protecting community policing and tackling cruelty to animals. Charles' candidacy for the Labour Party was endorsed by former Home Secretary

David Blunkett David Blunkett, Baron Blunkett, (born 6 June 1947) is a British Labour Party politician who has been a Member of the House of Lords since 2015, and previously served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough ...

Previous criminal conviction

In August 2012, Charles was told that a juvenile offence committed almost 50 years ago would bar him from standing as a PCC. He was given a 12-month conditional discharge for stealing a purse from a handbag when he was 14 years old. Hardyal Dhindsa, a

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...

City Councillor, was instead chosen as the new Labour party candidate. However, after further legal advice, Charles was reinstated in time for the election.

Election

In the election, Charles stood as Labour party candidate against Simon Spencer (

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

), David Gale (

UKIP The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of Parliament and was the largest pa ...

) and Rod Hutton (

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

). Charles won by a total of 57,248 votes to Spencer's total of 36,469. The turnout was 112,908, 14.4% of the Derbyshire electorate. The first preference votes did not win Charles an overall majority, but he was appointed after votes for Gale and Hutton were eliminated.

Results

Deputy PCC

In a controversial move on 30 November 2012, Charles announced he would appoint a deputy on a salary of £56,000 per annum. This move was criticised by many, who saw it as a waste of taxpayers' money, particularly since Charles and the Labour party was opposed to the concept of PCCs in the first place.

Personal life

Charles moved to

Killamarsh Killamarsh is a village and civil parish in North East Derbyshire, England, bordering Rotherham to the north and Sheffield to the north-west. Killamarsh is surrounded by, in a clockwise direction from the north, Rother Valley Country Park, th ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

in 1973 where he has lived since. He is married to Diane, with whom he has two children, Katy and Sarah, and four grandchildren, Ethan, Charlie, Billy and Bella.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Charles, Alan Police and crime commissioners in England Living people 1950 births People from Hayes, Hillingdon English electricians Councillors in Derbyshire Labour Party (UK) councillors Labour Party police and crime commissioners