Ronald William Ball (born August 1950) is a former Warwickshire Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC), and the first person to hold the post.
After a four-decade long career in aviation as an airline pilot on both commercial and cargo flights he was elected to the newly created office of Police and Crime Commissioner on 15 November 2012.
Although his role was a non-operational one, he requested a review of a police investigation into a motoring accident that left several people injured, citing public concerns over the incident.
[6] Along with his fellow Warwickshire candidates Ball expressed concerns about the limited information provided by the UK government to explain the nature and purpose of the elections.
[11] He also criticised comments made by the former Chief Constable of Warwickshire, Peter Joslin who urged voters to boycott the elections, calling them "irresponsible".
[12][13] The Warwickshire turnout for the election was 15.65%, reflecting a poor figure nationally across England and Wales, and the Electoral Commission launched an investigation into why voting had been so low.
It will be my job to monitor all aspects of the performance of the police—and that includes being independent when it comes to dealing with people who have complaints against the police.”[3] The task of Police and Crime Commissioner required him to liaise with Warwickshire's Chief Constable to set budgets and meet targets.
[19] On 28 November, and together with his counterpart, Bill Longmore from the neighbouring West Mercia Police, Ball gave his backing to an alliance between the two forces, enabling them to pool services and make budgetary savings of £30.3 million.
[23] He also announced that official meetings between himself and the Chief Constable would be open to the public, giving Warwickshire residents the opportunity to gain some insight into the working of their police force.
[25] Another of Ball's early decisions was to ask the Chief Constable to review a Warwickshire Police investigation into an incident in which several people were injured when a vehicle crashed through pedestrians and into a shop in Stratford-upon-Avon.
[32] Along with the three police forces involved, Ron Ball criticised the IPCC's findings, prompting its Deputy Chair, Deborah Glass, to respond with clarification of its conclusions.
[32] The IPCC subsequently announced it would conduct its own investigation into the behaviour of the three officers, prompting Ball to issue a statement on 3 November 2013 in which he expressed concerns about the legality of a fresh probe.