“The whole thing is a farce!” - Reaction to this year’s Police and Crime Commissioner election

The elections have been moved from November to May 5 but there are fears that, with only a handful of local elections taking place at the same time, and with the EU referendum dominating debate, there could be a repeat of the low turnout for the debut election for PCCs in 2012.

The results of our reader poll seems to agree with the majority of people claiming they will not cast a vote for the new PCCs in May.

Many readers also commented on the story and expressed their views on the EDP's Facebook page with most people reflecting the results of the poll.

Peter Watson said: 'The whole thing is a farce and the only way a democrat can express this is to vote but spoil the ballot paper and the same for any mayoral elections.

'If the number of rejected votes is more than the votes cast for the winning candidate, maybe someone will say the system's not working and do something about it.'

Joanne Dowen added: 'No I have no faith in our police system any longer. Will my vote mean that our local police station will be open to the public, no.

'Will it mean that local police are able to respond to 999 calls, no.

'Will it give victims families more access to family liaison officers, no. Enough said.'

Veronica Howell agreed. She said: 'No! The police don't need yet another highly paid office worker. They need officers on the ground and support from the courts.

'How they can keep going whilst demoralised and persecuted, I do not know.'

One reader had nothing but praise for the elected role. They said: 'PCCs have been the best thing to happen for overseeing the police service for years. Locally, it replaced the old police authority, made up of a dozen full time employees and 17 committee members with a very cosy relationship with the chief constable.

'Labour now accept that PCCs are here to stay so instead of the usual politicking over the issue we may now get round to a more reasoned debate as to who is the best candidate for the job.

'As we previously had no influence whatsoever on who was elected to the police authority, we now have a say as to who we want to represent us in overseeing Norfolk Police.'

Other readers had more concern about the democratic process behind the role and the levels of bureaucracy in government.

One reader said: 'The elections are now attracting political party candidates, for an imposed position, a job the majority of us rejected in the first election, a job that changes one's perceptions of reality.'

Another added: 'The fact that Norwich and Yarmouth have local elections, while the other districts do not, will surely create unfairness in this election.

'The wishes of the electorate in those two urban areas will have a greater influence on the final decision than will the wishes of those in other districts.

'The only way to ensure fairness in elections which cover several districts is to ensure that all districts have exactly the same elections at the same time.'

• Information about candidates in each force area will be available at www.choosemypcc.org.uk from mid April.