THROUGHOUT this week, the Gazette has been previewing the seven candidates for the Avon and Somerset police and crime commissioner election on May 5. Today in focus is Labour candidate Kerry Barker.

Kerry Barker is a very experienced Bristol-based barrister with expertise in criminal cases involving abuse of children, young and older vulnerable adults, the elderly and sufferers of dementia.

As a senior criminal barrister, Kerry has a special insight into the effects of the introduction of police and crime commissioners into the law of the United Kingdom and the historically important separation of powers.

The impact has been particularly disabling in Avon and Somerset, he said, with the appointment of four different chief constables within the four year term of the present incumbent - the direct result of ill-judged decisions.

As well as his experience as a barrister, Kerry also spent more than 20 years running magistrates’ courts and so has had significant experience in the management and financial administration of a public service which, in those days, was funded in exactly the same ways that police forces are funded today.

Kerry deals with many cases involving sexual assaults from rape to voyeurism and grooming.

The victims of such crimes, which often take place within the home, need the expertise and assistance of experienced and specially trained police officers.

Without such expertise, investigations can easily falter.

The abolition of specialist teams in Avon and Somerset in the past two years has seriously affected the quality of these investigations, according to the barrister.

Kerry is also very aware of the need for police officers to know and be known within their local communities. 

He believes that increasing centralisation reduces the effectiveness of police forces.

The closure of police stations in local towns has to be stopped and that policy reversed, the PCC candidate said.