This week, voters across East Devon can go to the polls. Sadly, it is not for what elections ought to be for – electing a new Government, which our country sorely needs. Instead, it is to elect a new Police & Crime Commissioner for Devon and Cornwall for the next four years.

Party politics belongs at Westminster, rather than at the Middlemoor police headquarters on Sidmouth Road in Exeter. Still, this is the system that we have been saddled with for the last decade. Police Authorities - which brought together a wealth of experience - were scrapped in favour of one individual commissioner, who often has little background in law enforcement or justice.

The Police & Crime Commissioner (PCC) is responsible for overseeing the overall conduct of the police constabulary, working with the Chief Constable to deliver on local crime plans, and deciding where police funding is directed.

Our current Police & Crime Commissioner has held the role since 2016. I am of the view that very senior oversight roles such as this one ought to be time-limited, to prevent the incumbent becoming too comfortable and failing to see things from new perspectives.

Police enquiry offices were closed in Devon and Cornwall in 2014, as part of a Devon & Cornwall-wide review into public contact overseen by a Conservative Commissioner. Since 2016, hundreds of frontline Police Community Support Officers have been cut – only for the Commissioner’s office to perform a screeching U-turn, as the Conservatives sought to portray themselves as tough on crime.

Recent reversals by the Commissioner have seen limited re-opening of front desks and a small increase in the number of frontline newly qualified police officers. Yet our towns and villages are still missing hundreds of experienced police officers and Community Support Officers – with the overall number of PCSOs falling by 60 per cent in recent years.

£2.5m is allocated to the running and operations of Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner. I suggest that some of this money would be better spent putting more officers and PCSOs on our streets.

On Thursday you have the chance to vote for something different. Steve Lodge is a strong Liberal Democrat voice for change. He’s a successful businessman from Tiverton who is focused on cutting red tape and getting back to basics.

A vote for Steve is a vote for a return to proper community policing, getting officers out on our streets to tackle crime at source. It’s also a vote for a visible, transparent, and accountable Commissioner, bringing new scrutiny to this crucial public service.

We may not have a General Election this week, but we can at least vote on something that affects us all.

The other candidates in Thursday's poll are Alison Hernandez, Conservative, who is standing for re-election, and Daniel Steel, representing Labour.