Lack of experience 'an advantage' says Northamptonshire PFCC candidate

Danielle Stone has no operational experience of working in the police or fire service

A police, fire and crime commissioner (PFCC) election candidate said her lack of police and fire experience puts her at an "advantage" for the role.

Danielle Stone will be the Labour candidate on the ballot for Northamptonshire's PFCC vote on 2 May.

Ms Stone has been a Labour councillor since 2011 but has no operational experience in the emergency services.

"I see the role not as having to be an expert in police or expert in fire, it's about scrutiny," she said.

The county's former chief fire officer Martyn Emberson (Conservative) and former police officer Ana Savage Gunn (Liberal Democrats) are also standing for election, which will select a successor for the incumbent Tory PFCC Stephen Mold.

Mr Mold has stood down standing down over misogynistic comments he made about Northamptonshire's chief fire officer Nikki Watson.

His decision to appoint Ms Watson was preceded by the controversial appointment of his friend Nicci Marzec - who had no operational experience for the role and ultimately resigned 10 days after taking the role last July.

Serving PFCC Stephen Mold said he had decided to "do the right thing" and not seek re-election.

Ms Stone said: "I don't want the police looking at me, thinking 'oh, she's an expert in fire, she's not interested in us', and I don't want the fire service thinking 'oh she's a police woman, she's not going to know anything about us'.

"I come from a community activism base. I'm very expert at scrutiny. I've done it all my life. My strengths lie in the fact I've got a local authority background, I've been a public servant one way or another all my life."

The BBC has also spoken to the Conservative and Liberal Democrat candidates ahead of next month's election.

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Ms Stone led West Northamptonshire Council's Labour group for six years and was the finance spokesperson for eight years, and a shadow cabinet member for children's services.

She said she had "always been passionate about community safety" and would "fight" for funding to recruit more police officers, if elected.

"It [the role of PFCC] is a very powerful role," she said. "It can make or break the police force and the fire service. We need a commissioner in place who's going to work with both the services to improve their performance, their working conditions and workforce morale."

The BBC will be speaking to all of the PFCC candidates ahead of the election.