Jas brings frontline experience to policing election

POLICEMAN, postmaster, politician - the man chosen as Conservative nominee for Bedfordshire’s first Police And Crime Commissioner cites 33 years of public service as his inspiration behind seeking the new role.

Jas Parmar, who is currently a sub-postmaster in Kempston, was last week chosen to fight November’s election.

And speaking to the Times & Citizen Mr Parmar stressed his “very very broad” experience in the Met Police in the 1980s.

He said: “I was with the force from 1982-87, and those were the hard days of policing in the Met. The 1980s were difficult times.

“There wasn’t much trust between the police and the public at that time, particularly among the Asian and Afro-Caribbean communities. A lot of work was done to build up that trust.

“Then we had the miner’s strike, the Tottenham and Brixton riots, the Libyan Embassy siege and the poll tax riots.

“I was part of the District Support Unit, which was the successor to the Special Patrol Group. I was there during the night that Brixton kicked off, and the Libyan Embassy too.

“I also served in the Royal Protection Group, which looked after the Royal Family and the palaces.”

Mr Parmar, who lives in Clifton, has lived and run businesses in Bedfordshire for 25 years, and recently made the headlines when Kempston Post Office was shortlisted for a national award by the Royal Mail.

He believed that it might be his all-round experience of policing that proves the most pertinent for voters.

Mr Parmar said: “I have an all-round experience of the police and the perception of policing. Having worked for all my life in a public-facing environment all day every day means I have an insight both into what the police can deliver and what the public want.

“I don’t want to build people’s hopes up and promise things that can’t be delivered, but I also won’t be fobbed off.”

He added: “I’m passionate about what I do in public life. It’s not about party politics, it is about doing the best I can for people.

“I want to serve the public to the best of my ability, and my 33 years of public service is what I want people to judge me on.”