Hi I’m Martin Surl…
I’ve been Gloucestershire’s Police & Crime Commissioner since 2012. I am fiercely independent and want to keep politics out of policing.
So who am I?
First and foremost I am a Gloucestershire man. My family has lived here for generations and I was born, brought up and educated here. As I said I am also an Independent, which means I have no affiliation to any political party and I will remain independent because I strongly believe that party politics has no place in policing. That doesn’t mean I won’t work with people from political parties, I just think this role has to be party politically neutral.
I am married with two children and a dog and although I have don’t have as much time as I would like to watch television, I am a bit of a ‘news junky’ across all media. I have an eclectic taste in music and a keen interest in Formula 1.
For over 30 years I was a serving police officer, rising to the rank of superintendent. The bulk of my service was in our county. But in 2000 I was seconded to the Ministry of Justice in Estonia to help modernise their police service and develop their crime reduction partnerships. Then in 2007 I was seconded again this time to the Association of Chief Police Officers, Terrorism and Allied Matters branch (ACPO TAM) as a senior officer involved with the setting up of the UK’s first anti terrorism network. I understand policing, I understand the history of our local force, but I am open to new ideas and do challenge the force to be creative and try knew things. We are all here to serve the Gloucestershire public and we must put them at the heart of everything we do.
At the last election I was the only candidate to come up with a full manifesto. My manifesto forms the basis of the Police and Crime Plan, which is the guiding principals and ideas I want Gloucestershire Constabulary to deliver, not always on their own but working with partners, from the public sector to the private and voluntary sectors too.
I hope you enjoy the content on this website, its my platform to help give you my personal insight into my thoughts, my deputy’s views and also contributors as well.
But to see the work being done by the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner and for the official content please visit the Gloucestershire OPCC Website
P.s. Below is a video produced by ITV West Country which was broadcast in February 2020, hopefully it gives you a flavour of the role and what drives me.