The Liberal Democrat candidate for the Wiltshire and Swindon Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) election has said his biggest priority is to “restore community policing.”

Alan Hagger was Head of Strategic Commissioning for three Hampshire Police and Crime Commissioners since 2013 and is now standing to be the PCC in the county-wide elections taking place on May 2.

Having previously worked as a social worker and with SEND children in London and Hampshire, he described living in Wiltshire as “an absolute pleasure.”

As a councillor on Amesbury Town Council, he said: “Being a town councillor has introduced me to parts of Amesbury I didn’t know existed and people that I didn’t know, and all sorts of things.

“It’s a wonderful community.”

Mr Hagger recognised the PCC role as “hugely demanding” and noted that it required balancing “national context with local needs and delivery.”

With regard to Wiltshire Police remaining under special measures, he said: “We should not be in the position whereby we are receiving such a poor report of performance and hoping to climb out to the point where we are actually trusted to manage our own police force.

“I know that the current Chief Constable and the Police and Crime Commissioner have made progress, and I would want to build on that progress and broaden out.”

The candidate listed his “biggest priority” as community policing.

He said: “I would like a new police strategy whereby you have that visibility and accessibility of police in town centres, where everyone knows that they are there and everyone can go and report crimes or whatever it is that they need to talk to the police about.”

Mr Hagger also insisted upon the importance of “right person, right care” approach, such as mental health agencies as first responders when appropriate.

He explained: “At the moment, the police have to go out every single time, even where there is no danger and no necessity for a policing intervention.

“By making sure that the right people are there to go and intervene at that time, it frees up a lot of police time.”

He said that he would also focus on crime prevention, tackling the “epidemic” of abuse against women and girls, maximising investment for all victims of crime, and improving support for police officers.

Mr Hagger highlighted concerns over the antisocial behaviour affecting “huge numbers of people” and making them “feel unsafe in their own area.”

Supporting voluntary organisations working with young people and finding solutions to the “environment in which antisocial behaviour happens” were among his suggestions.

He added: “There are a range of issues in Swindon that I would like to make sure are addressed, around burglaries, around knife crime, around anti-social behaviour…”

Mr Hagger described wanting to work with other PCCs to collaborate on the issue of delivering a police force over “sparsely populated areas.”

He noted: “We are the second-worst-funded police service in terms of population.”

He said: “I want to have ongoing discussions with town councils and I would build in a communications infrastructure with town councils and parish councils and local communities to make sure that we were aware of local problems.

“I would make a special emphasis on that happening so that we are responding to the needs of people, that the PCC is on the side of the people and making sure that they get the solutions that they need.”

He concluded: “I want to be open and transparent. I want everyone to understand what the police do, what the police can do, what it is reasonable to expect the police to do.”