THE race to become Police and Crime Commissioner in Thames Valley and elsewhere has not exactly caught the public imagination.

The Government’s grand plan to sweep away the existing police authorities and replace them with a single commissioner is running out of steam long before the finishing line.

Presumably, we were supposed to get a no-nonsense character, who would barge aside the pen-pushers and clean up this dirty ol’ town in a manner so beloved by Hollywood.

What we’ve got so far in Thames Valley is two of the usual political suspects and a man with a conviction for a public order offence whose shotgun collection has been confiscated by police.

Look at the candidates locally and nationally and who jumps out as a forthright, non-partisan representative of the people, who will show true leadership to our police officers?

The only one who might have fitted the bill of a people’s candidate, Falklands veteran Simon Weston, stood down in Wales because he felt the election would become too political.

Rather like the Emperor’s new clothes, it’s time someone pointed out the obvious flaws in this scheme.

For a start, nobody is very interested, so the turnout will be appalling. And even if you are dying to cast your vote, many of the candidates across the country wouldn’t be out of place in a remake of One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest.

Our current police authority is far from perfect, but it’s looking more and more like a case of better the devil you know.