The Police and Crime Commissioner at the centre of the youth tsar fiasco has spent hundreds of thousands of pounds on staff and personal ad campaigns, it emerged yesterday.
Ann Barnes has also splashed out £15,000 on a battle bus which she has called 'Ann Force One' – a pun on the name of the US President's plane Air Force One.
The 67-year-old former teacher was elected as PCC of Kent in November, despite having previously described the job as a 'wilful waste of public money'.
Battle bus: Kent police commissioner Ann Barnes has used the £15,000 bus for an outreach community tour
PCCs, introduced last year, are tasked with creating a police and crime plan and setting their local force budget
Last week Mrs Barnes was humiliated by the resignation of Paris Brown, 17, her £15,000-a-year youth crime tsar, for posting a string of racist and obscene rants on Twitter. Now she is facing calls to quit amid claims she has lost the confidence of voters and police.
Humiliated: Miss Barnes' £15,000-a-year youth crime tsar resigned last week following a string of obscene and racist rants on Twitter
Mrs Barnes, who served as chairman of Kent Police Authority from June 2005, initially said the role of PCCs were 'unnecessary'. 'They will have no different or additional powers from the current police authorities and are a wilful waste of public money,' she said.
But she performed a U-turn and decided to run for the post. She was elected by only one in ten local people.
She received a £65,000-a-year pay rise, taking her salary to £85,000.
Despite her comments on squandering public money, Mrs Barnes is using £90,000 of taxpayer funds to hire a chief of staff. She has also recruited two special advisers on £5,900-a-month salaries and is paying a former police authority colleague £300 a day to counsel her.
She stood by Miss Brown when the scandal first broke. The teenager had railed against gay people, immigrants and travellers, while glorifying drug-taking and violence. She also used an offensive word for black people, prompting a police probe.
Outraged officers criticised Mrs Barnes on the Kent Police Federation Facebook page. One comment read: 'Utterly incredible. I never thought that such a huge gravy train would follow with all that officers are struggling with. How on earth is this equitable and fair?'
Former Tory MP Jerry Hayes, a barrister, said: 'She just showed a total lack of judgment, which is rather worrying given she's in charge of governing the police. She's very much on probation.'Mrs Barnes admitted she had no idea how much public money had been spent employing a youth crime tsar. She said: 'I will publish the estimated cost when my staff have researched the figures.'
Ann Barnes has also splashed out £15,000 on a battle bus which she has called 'Ann Force One' – a pun on the name of the US President's plane Air Force One.
The 67-year-old former teacher was elected as PCC of Kent in November, despite having previously described the job as a 'wilful waste of public money'.
Battle bus: Kent police commissioner Ann Barnes has used the £15,000 bus for an outreach community tour
PCCs, introduced last year, are tasked with creating a police and crime plan and setting their local force budget
Last week Mrs Barnes was humiliated by the resignation of Paris Brown, 17, her £15,000-a-year youth crime tsar, for posting a string of racist and obscene rants on Twitter. Now she is facing calls to quit amid claims she has lost the confidence of voters and police.
Humiliated: Miss Barnes' £15,000-a-year youth crime tsar resigned last week following a string of obscene and racist rants on Twitter
Mrs Barnes, who served as chairman of Kent Police Authority from June 2005, initially said the role of PCCs were 'unnecessary'. 'They will have no different or additional powers from the current police authorities and are a wilful waste of public money,' she said.
But she performed a U-turn and decided to run for the post. She was elected by only one in ten local people.
She received a £65,000-a-year pay rise, taking her salary to £85,000.
Despite her comments on squandering public money, Mrs Barnes is using £90,000 of taxpayer funds to hire a chief of staff. She has also recruited two special advisers on £5,900-a-month salaries and is paying a former police authority colleague £300 a day to counsel her.
She stood by Miss Brown when the scandal first broke. The teenager had railed against gay people, immigrants and travellers, while glorifying drug-taking and violence. She also used an offensive word for black people, prompting a police probe.
Outraged officers criticised Mrs Barnes on the Kent Police Federation Facebook page. One comment read: 'Utterly incredible. I never thought that such a huge gravy train would follow with all that officers are struggling with. How on earth is this equitable and fair?'
Former Tory MP Jerry Hayes, a barrister, said: 'She just showed a total lack of judgment, which is rather worrying given she's in charge of governing the police. She's very much on probation.'Mrs Barnes admitted she had no idea how much public money had been spent employing a youth crime tsar. She said: 'I will publish the estimated cost when my staff have researched the figures.'