Martin Surl - Police & Crime Commissioner

Martin was born, raised, worked and lived in Cheltenham all his life. Born in 1957, he joined the Police in 1980, rising to the rank of Superintendent in 2000.  He was then seconded to the Ministry of Justice in Estonia to help modernise its Police service.  He was awarded the Order of Merit in 2005 in recognition of his work to introduce child protection measures into the country.

In 2007 he was seconded to the Association of Chief Police Officers to help set up the UK’s anti-terrorism network.

He was elected Police & Crime Commissioner for Gloucestershire in 2012, and re-elected in 2016.

As Commissioner, he has a budget of £107 million pounds to run the county’s Police force, which has managed to do very well despite the best efforts of the Government having cut his budget by £5 million for the last 4 years!  Because of the tight control of the finances, he even manages to use £1 million to  help local communities projects.

His main objects are to make the police more accessible, look after the young and elderly, road safety and IT crime, which seems to be the biggest problem these days. After telling us a few more interesting details of the day to day life as Commissioner, he went on to answer numerous question from the members.

Martin was one of the best speakers we have had for a long time, he was honest about his work and the police and spoke with authority and confidence.

Colin Harvey.