Voters will decide the next Police and Crime Commissioner for Gloucestershire on Thursday, May 6, and here’s why the Conservative candidate Chris Nelson thinks you should vote for him.

I love Gloucestershire and want to help make it the safest area in the whole country. I have served my country in the Army and as a local politician, and have almost 40 years of public service.

I retired as a full Colonel, having played my part defending democracy in the First Gulf War and protecting the vulnerable on the streets of Northern Ireland.

In business, I provided state of the art training facilities for international police forces.

Locally, I have been a District Councillor and Chairman of my Parish Council, listening to residents about their concerns and fear of rising crime. I have not been in politics for long, but I have played a major part in various Public Inquiries to defend Valued Landscape from unsustainable development; helping to create one of the largest Local Green Spaces in the country.

More recently, I have campaigned with Stroud MP Siobhan Baillie for tougher sentences to stop pet theft. Local crime is much worse than official figures suggest, as many fail to report sexual and domestic abuse, retail theft and things like rural crime.

Too often, victims believe the police will do little to help them.

I have the strategic, management, financial and business skills to ensure I make an immediate impact as your Commissioner. After consulting widely with the residents of Gloucestershire, my top 6 priorities are:

• Recruit 300 more police officers/PCSOs, plus 150 more volunteer Special Constables - this plan is fully costed and deliverable

• Cut Anti-Social Behaviours by 50%, by immediately adopting a zero-tolerance approach to all ASB, including house burglaries, bike theft, vehicle and bike crime, drug dealing, littering, fly-tipping, illegal parking, speeding and problem neighbours

• Fix the 101 non-emergency call system, by ending long waits for calls to be answered

• Fight Rural Crime by providing more locally recruited police, who know and love their neighbourhood, we can give rural communities policing they deserve

• Reduce Internet and Phone Scams, by improving public awareness, resilience, and working with national security agencies

• End the culture of spin and waste in the Commissioner’s Office, I will free up cash for more officers to fight the 90 crime hot spots we have in the County I will ensure the Chief Constable has the necessary resources to deliver these priorities and will hold him to account until they are achieved.

Crime prevention will be my single focus and my top priority.

Please lend me your vote and I promise that I will take immediate action to deliver real results to make our streets safer.