Peter McCall- Police & Crime Commissioner

Veterans In Politics- Season 3, Episode 9 with  Peter McCall - Police & Crime Commissioner for Cumbria

We wrap under season 3 with Police & Crime Commissioner Peter McCall, a former Corps Colonel of the RLC and one of the most senior veterans in politics in the UK. Jonny our host asks Peter about his military career, how he transitioned into becoming a politician and his views on how a more dangerous World will have an impact on policing in the UK.   Thanks to Company X Consulting for their support.

About Peter:

I am a proud Cumbrian and grew up and went to School in Wigton.  I was first elected as Police and Crime Commissioner for Cumbria in 2016 after retiring from the Army following a career spanning 34 years.  I was Regimental Colonel of the 16,000 strong Royal Logistic Corps supporting operations in Afghanistan, HR Director for 20,000 Combat Service Support personnel and have had range of appointments commanding very large organisations of both military and civilian personnel.  I most recently served in Sierra Leone commanding the military teams in 8 counties to coordinate government, police, relief agencies and charities and local councils for the relief response to Ebola and mentoring to develop contingency planning for civil resilience in the face of security, health and natural crises. 

As a senior military logistician I have been personally accountable for multi million pound public budgets, major procurement contracts and large scale project management and significant organisational change.  I have extensive experience of operations as diverse as Peace Support in Bosnia to Foot and Mouth here in Cumbria, and have worked with security and police forces around the world.  I worked in the ministry of Defence working with Ministers and senior civil servants and have extensive training in counter terrorism which was the subject of my staff college thesis.

I am married to Ruth, a Community Midwife working in Carlisle, and we have two grown up children.  I am a trustee of Bassenfell Manor Christian Outdoor pursuits centre, and was previously a volunteer at the Glasgow City Mission. Iam actively involved in leading music and preaching in several local churches.  I still run daily and fell walk to keep fit.

I have been very proud to serve the country as a soldier and more recently you as your PCC. I understand the nature of uniformed public service, values and standards.  I now hope to serve you and my home county as PCC for a further term.  I do genuinely believe that fighting crime is about 'we' not 'they' we all have a part to play as a team.  

I am a Conservative but as an elected Police and Crime Commissioner I have great pride in serving impartially and with integrity, and will work to serve every Cumbrian however you vote.  I have served and given loyalty to every shade of government in the last 34 years, I believe that for the PCC role the ability, qualifications and experience to do the job well for Cumbria, is more important than party politics.  

Sadly the world is a dangerous place, some forms of Cyber, Child Sexual Exploitation and Domestic Abuse are increasing and tragic events in recent years in Paris, in Brussels, and here in the UK, remind us that we must never be complacent about the threat of terrorism.  This is why we need professional leadership of our security forces, it is no place for amateurs playing petty politics, I urge voters to vote for comp