THE fight to become Hertfordshire’s first ever police and crime commissioner is hotting up after the deadline for entries closed on Friday.

Currently Hertfordshire Police is scrutinised by Hertfordshire Police Authority which is made up of 17 people – nine councillors and eight independent members.

But this is all about to change next month when the authority is set to be abolished and one of four candidates will be elected to become the public face of the police force.

The police and crime commissioner will have the power to hire and fire the chief constable, set the force’s budget and council tax precept, and develop a police and crime plan.

The role, which comes with an annual salary of about �75,000, also requires them to hold the chief constable to account, represent the views of the public and work with local partners to reduce crime.

Whoever is selected will be directly accountable to the electorate and have a fixed four-year term of office.

A Police and Crime Panel, made up of local councillors from across the county and independent members of the public, will also oversee the work of the commissioner. They will be able to veto some of their decisions, such as appointing a chief constable.

On Thursday, November 15, polling stations will open and voters will be required to chose up to two candidates and rank them in order of preference.

The voting system, called the Supplementary Vote, states if a candidate has more than 50 per cent of the first preference votes they are elected.

But if no candidate reaches this threshold the top two candidates go forward to a second round and all other candidates are eliminated.

Where a voter has selected a candidate who did not get through as their first choice, if their second choice was for one of the remaining hopefuls these votes are then reallocated.

The winner is the person with the highest combined total of first and second choice votes.

To find out more about the four candidates, click on the related links at the top right of the page.