POLICE and Crime Commissioner for Essex Nick Alston has defended the importance of his role following the recent scandal in Rotherham.
Mr Alston has said in a statement it would be "a backward step" to abolish the position which was introduced to hold police to account for their failings.
He said: "Police and Crime Commissioners are elected by local people and are closely in touch with them. They will be directly answerable to local electors at the ballot box in exactly the same fashion as MPs.
"It would be a backward step to return to the era of invisible, unelected police authorities during which so many failures of police leadership occurred without any meaningful oversight.
"There has been legitimate focus on the terrible failures in Rotherham: failures of the council, of the police, of social care and of the PCC. The people of South Yorkshire will now get the chance to elect a new PCC to hold their police force to account and to serve and protect victims."
It follows the resignation last week of Shaun Wright, who had been elected as the PCC in South Yorkshire, but whom had come under increasing pressure to step down after it emerged he had been the councillor responsible for children's services in the area from 2005 to 2010, during the period of widespread child sexual exploitation in the area.
Mr Alston made his comments in his role as Chairman of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC).
