As Kent's electorate head to the polls to cast their vote on who they want to see as the next Kent Police and Crime Commissioner (KPCC), News Shopper looks back over Ann Barnes' eventful career.   

November 2012

The Independent candidate Ann Barnes was elected into the newly created role as KPCC.

Speaking at the time of her KPCC election victory, Mrs Barnes lampooned the extremely small turnout saying the process had been run "disgracefully" and that there was "anger" among voters who complained that they did not know who was standing for the role.

Official figures show that in 2012 only 204,917 voters turned out to have their say - just 16 per cent of Kent’s 1,281,239 electorate.

News Shopper:
Ann Barnes has presided over a stormy four year career as KPCC

April 2013

The first youth police commissioner appointed by Ann Barnes was forced to quit a week after she took the job after it was discovered that the 17-year-old’s twitter account boasted about her sex life, drug taking and drinking binges.

News Shopper:
Kent Police's first youth police commissioner Paris Brown

Violent, racist and anti-gay comments were also posted on the Twitter account of 17-year-old, Paris Brown @vilulabelle which has since been removed.

Paris was given the £15,000-a-year post to represent the views of young people on policing.

News Shopper:
Ann Barnes standing in front of Ann Force One

May 2014

Many critics slammed Ann Barnes for her role in the Channel 4 programme Meet the Commissioner in which she appeared unable to describe her role in the police force as she travelled the country in her tour bus dubbed Ann Force One.

Twitter comments which included Mrs Barned being branded a “female David Brent” and “a joke” were batted away by the commissioner - who at one moment in the show tried to draw a diagram in the shape of an onion representing "all the different policing priorities, in terms of priority."

However, when Mrs Barnes was asked to name a crime that might appear on the outer-layer of the onion she "had no idea."

She also silenced calls to resign from members of the Kent and Medway Police and Crime Panel on June 5 over the programme.

The commissioner revealed that she has only seen a preview of the show the day before it was broadcast and was disappointed it was "too late" to make any changes to the programme.

The former teacher told the panel she had agreed to take part in the show to educate members of the public about her £85,000-a-year role with "the best of intentions" but in hindsight would not do it again.

She said: "It was never ever my intention to cause upset.

"It wasn't the programme I wanted it to be - it was the wrong decision and I'm truly sorry."

When asked by members of the panel if she was going to be "considering her position" Mrs Barnes said: "I am the right person to do this job."

June 2014

Things went from bad to worse for the KPCC after the second youth police commissioner, London 2012 torchbearer Kerry Boyd, 20, was caught up in tabloid allegations that she had maintained a “close relationship' with married, 50-year-old former Tory councillor, Robert Burgess in June 2014.

News Shopper:
Second and last Kent youth commissioner, Kerry Boyd

Miss Boyd's contract was not renewed when it came to an end in February 2015.

September 2014 - October 2015

An investigation was launched by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) following the revelation that Ann Barnes may have been driving without insurance at the time she crashed her car in Dartford on September 16, 2014.

A statement issued by the IPCC in October 2015 said: “Mrs Barnes may have committed the offence of driving without insurance when she was involved in the collision, for which she was not at fault, on September 16 2014.

As a result of the lengthy investigation, the panel concluded that the whole process had caused damage to the Police and Crime Commissioner herself, to her office and to the administration of justice itself.

May 2015

Kent PCC Ann Barnes revealed plans to scrap the youth crime commissioner post following the two scandals replacing the youth commissioner post with a newly-formed Youth Advisory Group.

March 2016

Ann Barnes announced on March 12 that she would not run for re-election in May.

Mrs Barnes said she had "absolute confidence" that improvements had been made to the police service during her time.