THE Police and Crime Commissioner for Thames Valley Police insists he is cheaper and more effective than the 19-member police authority he has replaced.

But he warned the force he may not be able to keep cutting crime if the Government goes ahead with more cuts.

Speaking a year after his election, the PCC said the Government should be spending money in the UK rather than giving away billions in foreign aid to countries that “send rockets to Mars”.

The force has axed £80m from its budget of more than £400m-a-year, Mr Stansfeld said.

The PCC said: “We have cut all the fat out and made ourselves much more efficient as a police force.

“But you get to the stage where you cut through the fat and into the meat and that does concern me.

“I think the European Union wastes vast sums of our money and I think foreign aid wastes a vast deal of our money. The money needs to be spent in this country.”

Mr Stansfeld said commissioners had made a difference to tackling crime and added that the priorities he set meant resources could be concentrated on issues raised by the public.

He said: “Overall (PCCs) are making a considerable difference to crime. I don’t think every PCC has been a success but the vast majority have been.

“You can get things done very much quicker – it cuts down bureaucracy.

“It has nailed down the policy of policing. It has allowed an individual to do what a committee of 19 did.”

He added: “It is a very proactive way of doing police work rather than reactive. The concerns of the public are translated into action much quicker than before.”

Crime fell 10 per cent in Oxford during the last financial year – from 17,369 crimes in 2011/12 to 15,686 in 2012/13.

Mr Stansfeld made house burglary a crime-fighting priority and it fell 24 per cent in the city from 846 to 644.

The PCC, who sat on the Thames Valley Police Authority, also said his office had shaved £600,000 off the annual cost of the old police authority through office efficiency and not “servicing the needs” of the committee members.

He said his time was split between working in his office, meeting senior police officers, dealing with councils, and engaging with the public.

He said: “I am going everywhere and visiting everywhere.”

But he said he spent an average of one day a week in London for meetings for the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners and the National Police Air Service.

Only 13 per cent of the electorate voted last November when Mr Stansfeld ran for the PCC job on a Tory ticket.

But he denied the role was political, adding: “I have had virtually no communication with the Conservative Party since I have done this job. I have been left alone.

“There aren’t any major political issues within the PCCs as we all want to reduce crime.”

He also defended his £85,000 salary, adding: “It is vastly less than a lot of people in my police force earn.

“It is hugely less than most senior NHS managers earn. I think it is fair for the responsibility you take on.”

Role that deputy just can’t switch off from

DEPUTY PCC David Carroll says he can not “just switch off” from his part-time role.

The 59-year-old, who earns £35,000-a-year to support Mr Stansfeld, said: “I consider this a big deal so I put more than part-time into it.

“It is called a part-time role but you can not just switch off.”

Mr Carroll, right, told the Oxford Mail he was raised on a High Wycombe council estate and left school aged 15. He worked as an apprentice at a furniture firm before setting up his own business and becoming a magistrate.

He said: “I know the reasons some people get into crime. It’s about poverty, lack of education and opportunity maybe.”

Mr Carroll said he was “very proud” when the PCC asked him to be his deputy. But he said the Thames Valley Police and Crime panel interviewed him before he was appointed.

The Deputy PCC, who also sat on the Thames Valley Police Authority, said the public did not know much about the previous system.

He added: “We have spent a vast amount of time on meeting the public. I think we have spoken to nearly 4,000 people.”

But the deputy commissioner has claimed no expenses since he took office last December.

He said: “It has never really been my top priority. At the end of the day it is about serving your people.

Investigating domestic abuse

ON Monday Mr Stansfeld visited the Oxford-based domestic abuse support service run by housing firm a2dominion.

Service manager Karen Diver said the team of 20 relied on funding from the PCC to offer victims advice, refuge, and support through the courts.

She said staff felt “privileged” Mr Stansfeld had come to hear their views and concerns.

She said: “It is hugely important. We feel very privileged that he has chosen to come and speak to us and we feel very heartened that there is an indication that he has got the violence against women and girls on his priority list.”

Mr Stansfeld said meeting the public in this way was a key part of his job.

He added: “I have been round to a number of different similar organisations. It is critical for the public perception of the police that the victims are treated properly and police liaise with them and they know what has been happening to their particular case.

“It is the nature of a civilised society that it looks after its victims.”

Breakdown of expenses

  • THE PCC had to claim back £142 after an audit found he had incorrectly claimed expenses cash.The audit came after the Thames Valley Police and Crime Panel received a complaint accusing Mr Stansfeld of claiming more than £1,000 through setting up a “sham” office and claiming mileage expenses from an office four miles from his West Berkshire home to the police headquarters in Kidlington.But the audit found Mr Stansfeld was also entitled to £194 in mileage he had not claimed.Between December last year and September this year the PCC has claimed £2,301.35 in expenses.