The Green Party has selected Worthing resident and local councillor James Doyle as its candidate in the forthcoming election for Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner.
‘I am honoured and delighted to have been chosen for this role,’ said James. ‘I will fight to protect policing as a public service. Under this and the previous government there have been six years of cuts to Sussex Police and six years of creeping privatization, with more and more police functions handed over to companies only interested in making a profit. I will work with the Chief Constable to ensure that we get the resources we need for Sussex, and to make sure those resources are used as effectively as possible to keep us safe in our homes and on our streets.
‘I will work to modernise the culture of the police, and make Sussex Police a leader in open and transparent policing. I will prioritise hate crime alongside domestic violence and violent crime, and ensure that policing is by consent, not constraint, so that protests, demonstrations and other exercises of free speech are policed for the protection of those exercising those rights, not to suppress them. I want to see Sussex Police being a police service, not a police force.
‘The Green Party has an active and progressive view of how policing should be adapting to the challenges of the twenty-first century. We need to actively pursue other ways of reducing crime than simply enforcement and imprisonment. I will:
- Make offenders face up to the effects of their crime by actively expanding restorative justice;
- Emphasise rehabilitation programmes to steer young offenders away from repeating their mistakes; and
- Take an honest approach to dealing with drugs, cracking down on organised crime while making sure users and addicts are given help and support rather than being criminalised and marginalised.
‘I am proud that in my time in local government in Worthing and West Sussex, I have stood up for those who are most at risk of being marginalised, and I am proud of my wife’s thirty years’ service as a Sussex Police officer. I care about the community I live in and the people I live alongside. I want to ensure that our police service is one that answers to our needs, protects us and our families, and makes us all feel safe.’
Biographical details
James Doyle has lived in Worthing, West Sussex, for nearly thirty years. His wife, Melanie, retired from Sussex Police in 2015, after 30 years service. They have two children. After a career in IT, James ran a bookshop in central Worthing for a number of years, and now looks after his children full time.
James was first elected to Worthing Borough Council in 1995, and has also served on West Sussex County Council and the board of Sussex Probation. He is currently the only Green Party district councillor in West Sussex.
Outside politics, James enjoys acting, and has performed with local drama groups in Southwick and Arundel. He played, and now follows from the sidelines, rugby and American football.