OFFICIALS have been counting the cost following the election of new West Midlands Police and Crime Commisioner David Jamieson.
Just over 10 per cent of the electorate bothered to turn out and vote last Thursday (August 21) amidst heavy criticism over both the timing and the amount of money it involved.
In total, 205,456 people voted out of a possible electorate of nearly two million, with Labour candidate Mr Jamieson obtaining over 50 per cent of the votes cast.
He totalled 102,561 beating Stourbridge based Conservative candidate Les Jones, the former Dudley borough council leader into second spot with 54,091 while UKIP's Keith Rowe came third on 32,187.
Mr Jamieson now replaces the previous PCC Bob Jones in his £100,000 a year post, the election being triggered by Mr Jones's sudden death last month.
Figures suggest staging the election could well have cost within the region of £3.7million - which equates to 158 bobbies on the beat.
Critics have already pointed to the poor turn out and Dudley borough deputy council leader Pete Lowe said: "While I'm encouraged by the result, the real loser was democracy.
"While I'm sure David Jamieson will make an excellent Police and Crime Commissioner, I question the value for money.
"The PCC election works out to have cost around £20 per voter.
"The low turnout of just ten per cent just shows that people are turning off in their droves.
"The election of PCC's is not the way forward. What we really need is a democratic process which make the police accountable!
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