Shaun Wright (born January 1968) is a British politician. He was the

South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner The South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner is the police and crime commissioner of the South Yorkshire Police in South Yorkshire. The post was created on 22 November 2012, following an election held on 15 November 2012, and replaced the S ...

from 2012 to 2014. He was the first person to hold the post, to which he was elected as a Labour Party candidate on 15 November 2012. As he held a senior position in child services during the

Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal The Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal consisted of the organised child sexual abuse that occurred in the town of Rotherham, South Yorkshire, Northern England from the late 1980s until the 2010s and the failure of local authorities to a ...

, he faced continual calls to resign. This resulted in his resignation from the Labour Party on 28 August and from his post on 16 September 2014.

Political career

Local government

Before becoming the PCC, Wright was a councillor on Rotherham Council. He was in charge of children's services for five years from 2005; he also sat on the

Police Authority A police authority in the United Kingdom is a public authority that is responsible for overseeing the operations of a police force. The nature and composition of police authorities has varied over time, and there are now just four dedicated "police ...

South Yorkshire Police South Yorkshire Police (SYP) is the territorial police force responsible for policing South Yorkshire in England. The force is led by Chief Constable Lauren Poultney. Oversight is conducted by Police and Crime Commissioner Alan Billings. T ...

Police and Crime Commissioner

Wright was elected to the newly created post of Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) as the Labour Party candidate on 15 November 2012. This replaced the police authority of which he had been a member. Wright's responsibilities included holding the force to account and setting spending plans, while his powers included the ability to hire and fire chief constables. In November 2013, Wright announced that the police would offer

lie detector A polygraph, often incorrectly referred to as a lie detector test, is a device or procedure that measures and records several physiological indicators such as blood pressure, pulse, respiration, and skin conductivity while a person is asked and ...

tests to sex offenders who are on

bail Bail is a set of pre-trial restrictions that are imposed on a suspect to ensure that they will not hamper the judicial process. Bail is the conditional release of a defendant with the promise to appear in court when required. In some countries ...

or on

probation Probation in criminal law is a period of supervision over an offender, ordered by the court often in lieu of incarceration. In some jurisdictions, the term ''probation'' applies only to community sentences (alternatives to incarceration), such ...

to determine their risk to the public, though the data would not be made available to courts.

Child Sexual Abuse Scandal

In August 2014 he faced calls to resign from the post of PCC after an inquiry into a massive case (1,400 children and counting) of

child sexual exploitation Commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) is a commercial transaction that involves the sexual exploitation of a child, or person under the age of consent. CSEC involves a range of abuses, including but not limited to: the prostitution of ...

Rotherham Rotherham () is a large minster and market town in South Yorkshire, England. The town takes its name from the River Rother which then merges with the River Don. The River Don then flows through the town centre. It is the main settlement of ...

, including from the Labour Party, the Prime Minister and the Home Secretary,

Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Lady May (; née Brasier; born 1 October 1956) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served in David Cameron's cab ...

. After being given an ultimatum by Labour to either resign from his post or face suspension from the party, Wright resigned from the Labour Party on 28 August 2014, retaining his post as South Yorkshire's PCC as an Independent. Under current legislation, there is no power of recall for PCCs and the only way they can be removed is if they commit misconduct in public office, or are convicted of an offence with a custodial sentence of two or more years. Following Wright's refusal to stand down, his deputy, Tracey Cheetham, stated that she could not support him, nor could she continue as his deputy, despite having herself no connection to the

abuse scandal. On 28 August, she resigned, publicly calling on Wright to do the same. On 3 September 2014,

Sheffield City Council Sheffield City Council is the city council for the metropolitan borough of Sheffield in South Yorkshire, England. It consists of 84 councillors, elected to represent 28 wards, each with three councillors. It is currently under No Overall Contr ...

unanimously passed a symbolic motion of no confidence in Wright, also calling for his resignation. On 16 September 2014, Wright announced his resignation as Police and Crime Commissioner for South Yorkshire.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Shaun 1968 births Living people Councillors in South Yorkshire Labour Party (UK) councillors People from Rotherham Police and crime commissioners of South Yorkshire Politics of Rotherham Labour Party police and crime commissioners Independent police and crime commissioners