Avon and Somerset police's outgoing Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Sue Mountstevens has described the role as the 'best job I've ever had' - but admits it has been 'tough'.
The former magistrate was elected to the role as an independent candidate in 2012. But this month she announced she would not be seeking re-election in May.
Speaking to Emma Britton on BBC Radio Bristol this morning (January 27), Ms Mountstevens explained some of the decisions behind the move.
She said: "It was an incredibly difficult decision, it's the best job I've ever had.
"But the environment has changed, so for the last eight years as an independent Police and Crime Commissioner, the politics that have been hitting us, the fact that every year we had to work with less money we've been disappointing the public because we couldn't do what was expected of us.
"It's been a tough eight years, I think Avon and Somerset Constabulary have performed outstandingly in order to deliver what we have.
"So it's right for a new PCC to come in and take on the different opportunities and challenges."
During her career, in 2014, the Police and Crime Panel ruled Ms Mountstevens had made a serious error of judgement when revealing the name of a whistleblower over complaints made about the then Chief Constable of Avon and Somerset Nick Gargan.
In 2016, she changed the force's police on keeping mentally ill people in police cells, condemning the practice as "Dickensian".
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