When the coalition Government introduced the Police and Crime Commissioner post, many people in policing were concerned that the involvement of Party Politics in the Governance of Policing would cause problems. The extent to which Independent candidates were elected in 2012 showed that voters also had concerns about this. The second set of elections in May this year saw a gradual return to conventional party politics dominating the role, although there are 3 PCCs who remain free from Party Political control. This years elections took place just as complaints began to surface regarding the way in which political parties appeared to have manipulated democratic processes to their own advantage during the 2015 General Election. This has come under scrutiny by the forces of law and order and there are now some 30 Tory candidates from the 2015 General Election being investigated by local police forces for using national campaign budgets (which run into Millions) to outspend local candidates from other parties in key marginal seats. In the last few days it has been announced that the Tories in Lewes are playing a tit for tat game, accusing the Lib Dems of doing something similar so bizarrely Sussex Police are investigating both Lib Dem and Conservative campaigns. Finally the newly elected PCC for Devon and Cornwall is under investigation for her part in the 2015 election and because she is now a PCC, the Independent Police Complaints Commission is investigating her role. Of course the Police forces are in a difficult position because many of them are governed by Conservative or Labour PCCs. All of this would make an excellent farce on the West End or in a film by Mack Sennett, except that this is not a fictional, made up story. This is real life.