The county now has its own election song and a van is nipping about between the major towns to encourage involvement in an issue which really matters for the north
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Most people have views about policing. The new commissioner system offers a vote, and other ways of having a say. Photograph: Oli Scarff/Getty Images
Much lamentation has been going on about the public's apparent lack of interest in the coming elections for police commissioners – even in the north where we have rather a lot of reasons to take an interest in the way our forces are run.
The Northerner ran a post on that the other week, which you can re-read here. Ed Jacobs also wrote interestingly on the topic in the Northerner last week.
Don't think that nothing is happening, however. To their credit, the current police authorities, the political parties and others are doing their best to engage potential voters in the elections. They may be far from perfect as Lord Blair, the former head of London's Metropolitan Police said at the weekend, but they are the only option we've currently got.
The Northerner hopes to do its modest bit to help, by running a comprehensive series of guides to the elections within our three regions between now and polling day on 15 November. In addition to this, we would be very pleased to run posts by candidates or others involved or simply with an opinion on the issue, either in general or in particular. Please email them to northerner@guardian.co.uk
Driving up interest: the Lancashire police commissioner election van. Meanwhile Lancashire is proving particularly sprightly with its Be Part of It campaign which this week takes to the road in its Ad-Van, a revival of a very long-standing northern tradition of political van use – check out Michael Herbert's Northerner post last week on the Clarion socialist van. It will be laden with leaflets, advice and the Lancashire Hotpots video of the Lancashire Police Commissioner Election Song which has now been seen by nearly 27,000 people on YouTube.
Here it is again, to help that number go up and up. As the authority points out, the new system will not consist just of one mighty commissioner, but an advisory panel which will need independent members, and a partnership arrangement with local groups, which will also need to put themselves forward. "Now everyone in Lancashire Listen to what I say: There's an election coming in November And I don't mean in the USA..."
The van left Morecambe prom yesterday for St John's Square, Blackpool, today and still has these venues to come:
Wednesday 24 October: Broadway and Market Hall,
Accrington
Thursday 25 October: Burnley town centre
Friday 26 October: Town Hall, Blackburn
Saturday 27 October: Flag Market, Preston
The authority's head of community engagement Naomi Walker is banging the van drum and says:
We're less than a month away from the election and we're continuing to do all we can to spread the word. There's still time for people to register to vote and ensure they have a say on who becomes Lancashire's very first Police and Crime Commissioner.
