Middlesbrough Council - News Forum - Setting a light to the News

Cllr Khan said that he believed it was important
that those with leadership aspirations behaved with integrity and honesty.

New Labour candidate for Cleveland police job
by Sandy McKenzie, Evening Gazette Mar 6 2012
A SECOND Middlesbrough councillor has announced his bid to be Labour's candidate in the election for Cleveland's first Police and Crime Commissioner.
Councillor Sajaad Khan has put in his application to be the Labour candidate in the November 15 election.
Last week fellow Middlesbrough councillor Barry Coppinger, a Pallister Ward representative, revealed he was making a bid for the Labour nomination.
Cllr Khan, 31, who works in hotel management, is a representative of the Gresham Ward having first been elected in 2011.
He said he had taken the decision to seek the Labour nomination after considering the matter for eight months.
“It is not an overnight decision. It is one that has been well thought out.”
Cllr Khan said that he believed it was important that those with leadership aspirations behaved with integrity and honesty.
“The difficulties currently being encountered by Cleveland Police make it clear that a clean break from the past is needed. A candidate untainted and with a clear perspective of the problems facing the authority is required,” said Cllr Khan.
Cllr Khan said he had seven key aims to deliver if he was elected as Police and Crime Commissioner:
Root out the causes of crime and anti-social behaviour;
Put in place measures to address drugs and alcohol abuse;
Protect children and vulnerable adults utilising a multi-agency approach;
Provide more shelters and support for victims of domestic violence;
Give greater recognition to recession-led crimes such as cyber fraud and scrap metal thefts;
Press the Government to introduce tougher legislation on repeat offenders;
Review and rationalise the police authority budget ensuring adequate funding is directed to front line policing.
“I have the qualities and attributes required to bring a fresh approach to the authority,” said Cllr Khan.
The new Police and Crime Commissioners will replace police authorities. Police and Crime Panels will also be set up.
The commissioner’s role will include: appointing the Chief Constable, having the power to call on the Chief Constable to retire or resign, holding the Chief Constable to account, securing the maintenance of an efficient and effective force, setting the police precept and budget and producing a police and crime plan.
The Police and Crime Panel will hold the commissioner to account and will also contribute to the policing plan and to the plans for spending on police services.

Read More http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teess ... -30465575/

Cllr Khan said that he believed it was important
that those with leadership aspirations behaved with integrity and honesty.

darkcloud
11:29 AM on 6/3/2012
Another labour councillor, if they want the job they should first resign as a counclilor then throw their hats in the ring, we do not need any type of politician in this role especially those who will toe the political line.

regulator
11:41 AM on 6/3/2012
The candidate who gets my vote will be the one who proves that he/she isn't just after easy money by pledging to take no more than the average salary (about £25K) for doing the job.

Lancelot
11:55 AM on 6/3/2012
Is Kahn refering to past members when he says we need a "A candidate untainted "? Does he know something that we don't?

finnsgran
12:18 PM on 6/3/2012
Isn't this the same Councillor Khan who failed to declare an interest when the council were discussing taxis in the town and was later admonished for it. Really good moral code then for this person who wants to be the Police and Crime Commissioner.

borocoffindodger
12:29 PM on 6/3/2012
He has not been a councillor for more than 5 minutes. Just exactly what has he done for the voters of Gresham? He is in Hotel management now is he? He told me that he was training to be a Doctor. He would make a very good Doctor A SPIN DOCTOR!!!!!!!!!

Lancelot
12:35 PM on 6/3/2012
So, who monitors postings on this site and removes items that they don't agree with? One of mine was taken out.

Clouseau
12:35 PM on 6/3/2012
Why dont these councillors do what they initially stood for, like being a councillor, or is the lure of a large wage packet just too much for some?
Have they ever done anything in a police role like being a volunteer special constable if they are so interested in the police? Oh no they couldnt milk the system doing that now could they! Coppinger jumped ship why does he now stand for the larger wage packet?
The various councillors from different parties should resign from their council post BEFORE putting themselves forward for the police commissionaire job, But I doubt they will. No political party should be involved in what is after all a non political police organisation. I rest my case your honour.

Indie
12:54 PM on 6/3/2012
Cllr Coppinger resigned his place on the P Authority which was an extra £10,000 a year for him stating pressure of work. Now we see the real reason - so that he could stand for the role of Police Commissioner . You canot stand for this position if you are a member of the P Authority. In other words he tried to con us.
Now we have another Labour cllr candidate who stood as a conservative candidate in the local elections in 2007. This one told some he was trainign to be a doctor, others he was training to be a soplicityor and now in hotel management - I wonder which hotel. He could give Walter Mitty a good run for hs money.

Lancelot
1:11 PM on 6/3/2012
I wonder how much these Councillors would manage to earn doing proper jobs! They all seem to be in it for as much money as they can get.
The Home Office should be the power that decides who will be Chief Constable, not members of political parties.

tripehound
1:32 PM on 6/3/2012
Money money money
It's a rich man's world

coffeebreak
3:26 PM on 6/3/2012
I am amazed that this candidate feels he has the integrity to undertake such a role, he lacks both experience and knowledge to undertake such a role. He is clearly whitewashing over his tainted reputation . He is an example of someone who is a career politician, and has failed in every other aspect of his life. The words hypocrite and glory seeker come to mind (partcurlarly when it comes to his reference to domestic violence). I think the Police Commissioner role should be undertaken by some one who has real values and not someone who is motivated by personal gain

Justback
3:57 PM on 6/3/2012
Sounds as though he has exactly the same "qualities and attributes" as our beloved Prime Minister, all promise and no action.

goodcopbadcop
4:41 PM on 6/3/2012
Cllr Khan has already decided he intends to direct the Police in operational matters. Not his role.
Put in place measures to address drugs and alcohol abuse. Not his role.
Provide more shelters and support for victims of domestic violence. Not a role for the Police to provide shelters. Not his role, Local Authority responsibility.
Give greater recognition to recession-led crimes such as cyber fraud and scrap metal thefts.
Not his role to direct the Police on operational matters.He clearly does not understand what the role entails, other than 80k a year.
He has no experience, he has been a coucillor since 2011, he has no knowledge of the Police Service, he has no experience at all which would qualify him for the role, other than being the prefered Labour candidate.
This is a disaster waiting to happen.

TaxiDriver
6:35 PM on 6/3/2012
Anyone associated with big local businesses like Boro Taxi's should not get anywhere near the police commissionaires role.

Tiresias
9:15 PM on 6/3/2012
More hogs atttracted to the trough of corruption!

spragger1
10:49 PM on 6/3/2012
Pigs in a trough time . .
All Hypocrites as #Labour is against this policy
In good company, Prescott wants to become one as well . .

http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teess ... -30465575/

LEADING Middlesbrough councillor Barry Coppinger has stepped down as a member of Cleveland Police Authority.
Cllr Coppinger says he is standing down
for workload and health reasons.
Cllr Coppinger, Middlesbrough Council's Executive councillor for social care, has served on the police authority for eight years. He is a councillor for the Pallister Ward and also has a full-time job.
Cllr Coppinger said: "I have thoroughly enjoyed my eight years with the police authority and hope I have been able to make a contribution.
At this difficult time for the council I have found my councillor duties increasingly demanding and felt that I needed to reduce my responsibilities."
Cllr Coppinger discussed the change fully with Middlesbrough Mayor Ray Mallon and they both decided it was the right decision for all concerned.
Peter Race, chairman of the Cleveland Police Authority, said: "I am sure I speak for the whole authority when I say that we all recognise Barry Coppinger''s unstinting commitment to his duties with the police authority and the council - and respect his reasons for now deciding to stand down from the police authority."
Mr Race said that throughout his time on the authority Cllr Coppinger had fully supported its determination to put resources where they really mattered - into front-line policing and protecting local people and communities.
"He has made a real contribution to the remarkable progress which has seen the Cleveland force become one of the most successful in the country."
A new representative for the police authority will be put forward in due course.
CAPTION(S):
LEAVING: Cllr Barry Coppinger has served on the police authority for eight years.
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Councillo ... 0272481903

16th November 2011
Evening Gazette - Councillor quits police authority
eveninggazette.newspaperdirect.com/.../viewer.aspx?...
LEADING Middlesbrough councillor Barry Coppinger has stepped down as a member of Cleveland Police Authority. Cllr Coppinger says he is standing down for workload and health reasons...

Labour councillor and Labour activist at loggerheads.
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Sajaad Khan stood as a Tory candidate in 2003 for the Middlehaven ward.
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This from Thomas Robinson’s Facebook.
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Argument between Labour Councillor and Thomas Robinson in response to a picture of Tom burning a Tory leaflet!
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Note;- Sajaad Khan ran as a Conservative Party candidate back in 2003 and lost. He then joined the Labour Party a few years later, ran as a councillor and won. Maybe the definition of a turncoat glory-hunter.
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“Sajaad Khan Cllr: that is not something you should be doing, we may not agree with their policies but we do not burn materials. in my campaign we received some very negative literature but we read it put it aside and tried to do better, perhaps you should take some time out and evaluate what you did, its not mature.”
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”Thomas Robinson: Oh see Saj I've got a leaflet with you on from 2003, when you were a Conservative Party candidate. But good point, I won't burn it, I'll save it for a rainy day...”
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”Sajaad Khan Cllr: Thomas I am very disappointed in your comments and find them as such to be disrespectful, I therefore I am blocking you from my account and cannot accept the above as lawful means of protest, it is immaturity at it highest. I have also informed my collegues in the group and as such expect an apology, I have rang you but as you have put the down and let it go to voicemail. Responsbile adults take responbile decisions, if you feel that it is acceptable to criticise fellow Labour collegues especially a Labour Councillor then it is approporiate for me to inform you that such behavior is not fitting of Labour.”
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”Thomas Robinson: I will not take any lessons from you, nor should you attempt to take the moral high ground which may exist on cloud Sajaad. As for the 'watch yourself' message you left me, that's actually a bigger story... a harrassment law suit in the making. If you can't accept other people's views then you're in the wrong business. Go back to your law, medicine, astronomy, horoscope, online degree or whatever it was”
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The secretary of Teesside Young Labour Party, it seems, has lost an ally in Middlesbrough Town Hall?
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Overheard from Khan, at the count, "Look at the scum being elected tonight"
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A case of physician heal thyself.

Last edited by TOSHA2 on Sat Oct 01, 2011 7:56 pm; edited 3 times in total

http://forum.thenorthernecho.co.uk/view ... b945deb6fa

TUESDAY, MARCH 13, 2012
Cllr Saj Khan - an exclusive interview for the PRT!
posted by Joe at 11:27 AM
The Police Force has always been a highly politicised institution. From its creation under Home Secretary Robert Peel in the early 19th century to deal with middle class concerns about the Captain Swing riots, it was then gradually developed directly adjacent to the rise of violent Chartist agitation and early trade unionism.
In this century too, it has maintained its political status. The most obvious example of this occurred during the 1984/5 miners’ strike, but we have also seen the politics of the police at play during the G20 demonstrations in London in 2008 and more recently with the exposure of its close links with the Murdoch press.
Much of the left-wing debate on the police, however, concentrates too heavily on the Met. What are the politics of Cleveland Police?
I first met Middlesbrough Councillor Sajaad Khan last year, when we were both Labour candidates in May’s local elections. Unlike me he was successful and was elected in first place for the tough Gresham Ward, ousting former Council Leader Ken Walker in the process.
I was intrigued to read of his somewhat bold candidature for the Labour nomination for Cleveland Police Commissioner, with the first set of elections due to be held this November. At 31 he is still a young councillor and is decidedly un-embedded within Teesside’s civic society. If anything, despite being a Labour councillor, he’s something of an outsider within the local political world.
Personally I am sceptical towards the whole notion of elected Police Commissioners, but Khan’s campaign has already been the beneficiary of prominent featured articles in both the Evening Gazette and the Northern Echo, and as he may well be the first Cleveland Commissioner I was delighted that he agreed to be interviewed exclusively by the People’s Republic of Teesside so that I could try and understand a bit more about his intentions.
I didn’t even have to ask him a question at first. He had barely sat down when he immediately made clear to me his motivations:
“Basically, I’m not happy with the state of the police at the moment, and I can’t accept the rationale that a former Police Committee member, or a bureaucrat, can be the right person for the job, we need someone who brings a fresh perspective.”
“Police Committee members are conditioned to make decisions in a certain way which can be two dimensional. It needs a new voice. For Cleveland Police, it’s the management, the structure and the policing strategy that all needs changing. But they’re only now talking about stuff a Police Commissioner could do, that they could have been doing already!”
I raise with him my concerns that the whole concept of Police Commissioners is a bit of a populist, right-wing gimmick from a Tory Government. What is the point of it all?
“I’m tired of people playing the politics of fear. The boundary reviews, for example, are going to have a massive effect. Looking at Hartlepool, it’s going to go down from 47 to 33 Councillors. That will have a number of positive effects in that it will save public money and result in fewer bureaucrats, but the people who actually live in the Wards will still be there.”
“Neighbourhood policing is being rationed,” he continues, “We're losing many police officers, but they’re also being redeployed and rationed elsewhere. It’s true we’ve lost many 999 operators.”
Isn’t this a political move by the Tories, though? They will know that their political opponents’ resources are stretched, and that the more elections they invent the more those resources will be stretched?
“Yes.”
Also, don’t the Tories just want to pander to their reactionary base by having a few ‘hang em and flog em’ candidates win Commissioner roles at a local level, and that they can just wash their hands of it?
“That’s the scary thing. Hopefully it should be prevented as anyone who wants to stand will have to pay £5,000, and i'm unsure if there will be any refunds. Hopefully this will deter any EDL or BNP or other far-right nut-jobs from standing!”
“It is true though that if we end up with powerful Commissioners with no checks and balances they would be able to push through extremely harsh policies. In fact, if you look at the surveillance capabilities Middlesbrough Council and Cleveland Police has, a Police Commissioner could really do pretty much whatever they want.”
“David Cameron also knows that it will be a useful election issue in 2015, as he will be able to shift the blame for any rise in crime – caused by his economic policies – onto Labour Police Commissioners.”
I raise the record of the Blair Government with regards to Civil Liberties issues. Isn’t it the case that there were a lot of highly authoritarian policies that were pushed through: the increasing weaponisation of the police; increased powers of detention without charge, proposals for I.D Cards, increased powers of stop and search, and the widespread use of Control Orders and ASBOs?
I also raise the record of Middlesbrough Council. Councillor Khan agreed with me that Ray Mallon has always taken a reactionary line on ‘law and order’ issues in that Middlesbrough Council has massively increased its surveillance operations, has placed hidden microphones around the town to shout at people dropping litter, and has plastered photographs of young people given ASBOs over the backs of buses. I point out that most of this was done not only with the support of, but under the direct responsibility of Labour Councillors.
“This is something that’s true.”
Many people in the Labour Party, I suggest, seem to take a rather inverted snobbery approach to civil liberties issues. It’s regarded as distractionist; the sort of thing middle class liberals discuss at dinner parties. Labour politicians will always point out that their working class constituents actually favour CCTV and ASBOs and so on.
“Well you’re a lawyer, and looking at it from a lawyer’s perspective, this is the worst thing that might now happen. The police will become politicised.”
“Cleveland Police has always been politicised though. Particularly since Mallon and all the corruption during that time we now have Pryce and McLuckie under investigation. The whole Cleveland Police Authority needs changing.”
“Despite that, it would be near impossible for a Labour Commissioner to push through hard line socialist policies, as the individual police officers have to be politically neutral.”
“The Police Commissioner will be a very highly paid post. It’ll be paid more than an MP, but you won’t have any Parliamentary Privileges. So who exactly will you be accountable to? In Cleveland you will be accountable to Labour Councillors and independent representation, you could say the old school club. I’d like to see panellists without allowances, and the money saved should go back into the force, back into services. You should also have members of the public on the panel.”
“Actually, that would be something you’d be good at!”
“Not if it would be unpaid, it wouldn’t!”
Finally, I suggest that there are two obvious outstanding questions. I mention that when I was a candidate last year I was aged only 22, and that if I was correct in my thinking if I had been elected that would have made me the second youngest Councillor in Middlesbrough’s history – behind Steve Gibson. I observed that I was frequently advised to make political capital out of being a ‘young’ candidate but that I was always reluctant to do so as I couldn’t see what justification I might have to portray myself as a representative of the youth of Middlesbrough, and that in fact I don’t think I am. I ask him, however, whether he would stand not just as the ‘young’ candidate, but as an ‘Asian’ candidate.
“Yes, definitely.”
I ask him for his interpretation of the relationship between the police and the Asian community on Teesside.
“You have to remember that there are now over 30,000 Black and Muslim people living on Teesside, not to mention Kurds, Africans, Hindus, Sikhs and so on, and the relationship with the police needs to be better.”
“We have issues on Teesside with extremism and forced marriage, but we also have issues with alienation and exclusion.”
Is this something your election might address?
“Yes. I genuinely believe we need a candidate who can unite everybody under one banner. I think I’m that candidate. The Tories are hopeless when it comes to this. Did you know they had to put out a booklet to activists and candidates with guidance for how to ‘connect’ with Black voters?”
No! But then it hardly surprises me at all!
“I really think that the Labour Party is the only mainstream party that ‘gets’ this issue and wants to do something about it.”
Our chat then came to a close. I asked him what he thought his chances were.
“I don’t think I’ll be on the Labour shortlist as much as I’d like to be. I think the Party will decide at a national level that you have to be on the Police Committee in order to stand. Which is a problem because it’s many of the people who already sit on the Committee that are involved with the problems at the moment.”
So if you were able to be shortlisted it would really shake things up?
“That’s my intention, but as I say I don’t think it’ll happen.”

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