Mark Burns Williamson

Biog

Mark was appointed to West Yorkshire Police Authority in June 1999 and elected Chair of the Authority in June 2003. After joining the national board of the Association of Police Authorities (APA) in 2003, he was elected Deputy Chair in 2009 and in October 2011 he was elected the outgoing Chair of the Association of Police Authorities (APA) overseeing the national transition to the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC). In November 2012 he was elected to be the first Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) for West Yorkshire and re-elected in May 2016 with 300, 000 votes, and now elected as Chair of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners in July 2018.

Mark has instigated a number of initiatives, including establishing the Safer Communities Fund where assets seized from Criminals (POCA) have been used to support more than 500 local community projects totalling nearly £2.5m. He was key in establishing a dedicated police Human Trafficking Team in West Yorkshire and leading the co-ordination of stakeholders dealing with historic and current child sexual exploitation cases. He has worked with partners to establish the West Yorkshire Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery Network and each of the 5 districts of West Yorkshire now having its own forum. In 2016 he launched the National Anti-Trafficking and Modern Slavery Network at the Home Office which he Chairs, this brings Police and Crime Commissioners, the Home Office, National Police Chiefs Council and the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner together (amongst others) to tackle the horrendous abuse and exploitation of people. He is also the lead PCC for the National Police Air Service (NPAS) and has overseen the establishment of the service as the first service to be delivered nationally by a lead Force (West Yorkshire) and PCC under a national collaboration agreement and Chairs the national NPAS Board since its creation in 2013.

Mark has spent over 30 years working for both public and private sector organisations in West Yorkshire, including West Yorkshire County Council, Wakefield Council, Citizens Advice Bureaux, CableTel Ltd, The Rugby Football League (RFL) and Halifax Bank Plc. In the 2012 Honours List, he was awarded an OBE for services to the Community and Policing. For nearly 15 years he was a Labour District Councillor for Castleford and Glasshoughton, part of Wakefield MDC, Mark stood down from this post after he was elected as Police and Crime Commissioner in Nov 2012.

Mark lives in Castleford and is President of Glasshoughton Cricket Club, an ex-rugby and cricket player and a passionate supporter of rugby league (Castleford Tigers) and many sports, as well as a Trustee of Castleford Heritage Trust and lover of rock music.