DEVON AND CORNWALL Police and Crime Commissioner Tony Hogg has defended the cost of his office after receiving criticism during a live debate on Wednesday.
Mr Hogg was quizzed during the debate held at Newquay's Best Western Hotel Bristol, along with the force's chief constable Shaun Sawyer.
A former Royal Navy commander from Helston, West Cornwall, Mr Hogg was elected in November 2012 in a ballot which saw just fifteen per cent of people across the two counties turn out to vote.
Mr Hogg's office has been criticised for having more staff and spending more money, £1.8m, than the former police authority - he has 20 people working for him, while the previous authority had 17.
Cornwall councillor Pat Harvey from St Columb Major asked how Mr Hogg can justify spending millions on his office when there is a reduction of officers deployed to rural areas.
"The rural towns and areas are deprived of any support, and with the reduction in the number of officers, are people in rural areas are now becoming second class citizens," Mrs Harvey asked. "If there wasn't a job of commissioner, there would be more money and more police."
But Mr Hogg defended his position and said people would be "amazed" if they visited his office to see it in action.
"My job is to deal with the political end, to argue the case for a better share of funding with 18 MP's, and to recognize the pressures on Devon and Cornwall and to lobby the government to stop removing further money from the force," Mr Hogg said.
"If you sat in my office, I would almost guarantee that you would leave there amazed at how much work is going on. We are doing five times more public engagement, we have got a better grip on alcohol issues than we ever had with police authority and I've changed the decline in police officer numbers."
Mr Hogg said he is also arguing against the outflow of police to guard events like the NATO conference in Wales this September, and deployments to Northern Ireland.
"You and I know we need police on the streets here," Mr Hogg told the Cornish Guardian.
