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divdiv class=story-body readability=33 span class=story-date#13; span class=date13 November 2013/span#13;span class=time-textLast updated at /spanspan class=time19:58 ET/span#13; #13;/span#13;#13; #13;#13;#13; #13; #13; #13; #13; p class=introduction id=story_continues_1More than a third of people in England and Wales have no idea if there is a police and crime commissioner (PCC) in their area, a BBC poll suggests./p#13; pThe findings, published a year after the first PCC elections were held, indicate that 35% do not know if they have one, while 3% think - incorrectly - that they do not./p#13; pThe PCC's role is to oversee chief constables and forces' budgets./p#13; pLast year's election saw an average turnout of just 14.9%./p#13; pThis was historically low, leading the Electoral Commission to describe it as a concern for everyone who cares about democracy./p#13; pThere are 41 PCCs in place in all areas of England and Wales except London, where the equivalent job is done by elected mayor Boris Johnson./p#13; pInfluenced by systems in place in parts of the US, their biggest tasks are to hire and fire chief constables and hold them to account for forces' performances./p#13; pThey also oversee community safety and set out budgets, reporting annually on progress./p#13; span class=cross-head'Accessible'/span#13; pThe government says PCCs will give people more control over policing, but opponents have warned the changes will politicise the service - and that the low turnout showed people did not want them./p#13; pA ComRes poll for BBC One's Sunday Politics suggests 38% of people living in areas where there are PCCs either do not know if there is one, or think that there is not./p#13; pSome 62% were aware of their existence and 7% said they even knew the name of their PCC./p#13; pMeanwhile, 41% said they had had a positive effect on policing and 10% negative./p#13; pOlder people had the greatest awareness of PCCS, with 68% of over-65s saying they knew they had one, compared with 51% of 18- to 24-year-olds./p#13; pAt the first elections, held on 15 November last year, turnout varied from 11.6% in Staffordshire to 20% in Northamptonshire./p#13; pThe previous record low turnout for a national poll in peacetime was 23% for the 1999 European elections./p#13; pBut Home Secretary Theresa May said at the time that PCCs' profile would increase over time: The police and crime commissioners are visible. They'll be accessible. They've been elected and crucially they will be accountable to people through the ballot box./p#13; pComRes interviewed 1,551 adults aged 18 and above by telephone between 18 and 27 October. The results were weighted to be representative of all British adults./p#13; /div/divbrbrcentera href=http://www.wizardrss.comPowered By WizardRSS.com/a | a href=http://www.wizardrss.comFull Text RSS Feed/a | a href=http://www.amazon.com/RFID-Blocking-Cards-Identity-Protector/dp/B00CJHZLEWRFID/a | a href=http://www.wpzonbuilder.comAmazon Affiliate/a/center