The polls have opened today for Thames Valley residents to cast their vote to decide who should be the next Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) for the area.

Candidates from the ‘big four’ parties (Labour, Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and UKIP) have been campaigning hard for votes in a bid to take the position, which will hold the chief constable of Thames Valley Police to account for how their force performs for the next four years.

Laetisia Carter from the Labour party is the only female candidate to stand for this year’s election and currently works for the NHS, commissioning projects which improve mental health services.

John Howson from the Lib Dems says his key tasks, if elected as Police and Crime Commissioner, will be to reduce crime and the fear of crime, improve police accountability and visibility, work to raise public confidence and target resources on detecting crime and cutting offending rates.

Tory Anthony Stansfeld is currently the Thames Valley’s first ever PCC, having been elected to the role in November 2012.

UKIP’s Lea Trainer says he is “acutely aware of the pressures being put on the police force by austerity cuts” and says it is “vital” that any PCC holds the chief constable and the government to account.