Shaun Wright (born January 1968) is a British politician. He was the

South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner The South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner was the police and crime commissioner of the South Yorkshire Police in South Yorkshire. The post was created on 22 November 2012, following an election held on 15 November 2012, and replaced th ...

from 2012 to 2014. He was the first person to hold the post, to which he was elected as a Labour Party candidate on 15 November 2012. As he held a senior position in child services during the

Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal From the late 1980s until 2013, group-based child sexual exploitation affected an estimated 1,400 girls, commonly from care home backgrounds, in the town of Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. Between 1997 and 2013, girls were abused by groomi ...

, he faced continual calls to resign. This resulted in his resignation from the Labour Party on 28 August and from his post on 16 September 2014.

Political career

Local government

Before becoming the PCC, Wright was a councillor on Rotherham Council. He was in charge of children's services for five years from 2005; he also sat on the

Police Authority A police authority in the United Kingdom was a public authority that is responsible for overseeing the operations of a police force. The nature and composition of police authorities has varied over time, and there are now just four dedicated "poli ...

South Yorkshire Police South Yorkshire Police (SYP) is the territorial police force responsible for policing South Yorkshire in England. The force is led by Chief Constable Lauren Poultney. Oversight is conducted by Mayor Oliver Coppard. History The force was fo ...

Police and Crime Commissioner

Wright was elected to the newly created post of

Police and Crime Commissioner A police and crime commissioner (PCC; ) is an elected official in England and Wales responsible for generally overseeing police services. A police, fire and crime commissioner (PFCC) is an elected official in England responsible for generally ...

(PCC) as the Labour Party candidate on 15 November 2012. This replaced the police authority of which he had been a member. Wright's responsibilities included holding the force to account and setting spending plans, while his powers included the ability to hire and fire chief constables. In November 2013, Wright announced that the police would offer

lie detector A polygraph, often incorrectly referred to as a lie detector test, is a pseudoscientific device or procedure that measures and records several physiological indicators such as blood pressure, pulse, respiration, and skin conductivity while a pe ...

tests to sex offenders who are on

bail Bail is a set of pre-trial restrictions that are imposed on a suspect to ensure that they will not hamper the judicial process. Court bail may be offered to secure the conditional release of a defendant with the promise to appear in court when ...

or on

probation Probation in criminal law is a period of supervision over an offence (law), offender, ordered by the court often in lieu of incarceration. In some jurisdictions, the term ''probation'' applies only to community sentences (alternatives to incar ...

to determine their risk to the public, though the data would not be made available to courts.

Child Sexual Abuse Scandal

In August 2014 he faced calls to resign from the post of PCC after an inquiry into a massive case (1,400 children and counting) of

child sexual exploitation Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC) defines the "umbrella" of crimes and activities that involve inflicting sexual abuse on to a child as a financial or personal opportunity. Commercial Sexual Exploitation consists of forcing a chil ...

Rotherham Rotherham ( ) is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It lies at the confluence of the River Rother, South Yorkshire, River Rother, from which the town gets its name, and the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don. It is the largest settlement ...

, including from the Labour Party, the Prime Minister and the Home Secretary,

Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Baroness May of Maidenhead (; ; born 1 October 1956), is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served as Home Secretar ...

. After being given an ultimatum by Labour to either resign from his post or face suspension from the party, Wright resigned from the Labour Party on 28 August 2014, retaining his post as South Yorkshire's PCC as an Independent. Under current legislation, there is no power of recall for PCCs and the only way they can be removed is if they commit misconduct in public office, or are convicted of an offence with a custodial sentence of two or more years. Following Wright's refusal to stand down, his deputy, Tracey Cheetham, stated that she could not support him, nor could she continue as his deputy, despite having herself no connection to the

abuse scandal. On 28 August, she resigned, publicly calling on Wright to do the same. On 3 September 2014,

Sheffield City Council Sheffield City Council is the local authority for the City of Sheffield, a metropolitan borough with city status in South Yorkshire, England. The council consists of 84 councillors, elected to represent 28 wards, each with three councillors. ...

unanimously passed a symbolic motion of no confidence in Wright, also calling for his resignation. On 16 September 2014, Wright announced his resignation as Police and Crime Commissioner for South Yorkshire.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Shaun 1968 births Living people Councillors in South Yorkshire Labour Party (UK) councillors People from Rotherham Police and crime commissioners of South Yorkshire Politics of Rotherham Labour Party police and crime commissioners Independent police and crime commissioners