Simon Hayes

Who is Simon Hayes?

Simon Hayes is the Police and Crime Commissioner for Hampshire Constabulary. He is the first person to hold the post and was elected on 15 November 2012 as an Independent. He received 47,632 first preference votes from an electorate of nearly 1.5 million on a turnout of 14.6% at the PCC Election in 2012.

Hayes is the chairman of Hampshire and Isle of Wight Crimestoppers and is a former chairman of the Hampshire Police Authority.

In Hayes' previous role as Chairman of the Police Authority he was also a Conservative councillor on both Hampshire County Council and New Forest District Council. Hayes is now one of the minority Independent PCCs in the country and as such has no party-political affiliations.

In May 2013 Hampshire's PCC was identified by a House of Commons Select Committee as ' being responsible for the largest increase in the budget to run the PCC's office'. According to Hampshire Police the most of this budget increase, £2 million, was however used to meet the PCC Policing and Community Priorities. In December 2013 the Hampshire PCC announced further staff; appointing more Commissioners.