by political editor Paul Francis

Candidates standing in the race to become Kent's first directly-elected police commissioner have all pledged that frontline policing will not be privatised if they win.

But some candidates say they will be willing to consider contracting services to private companies where it saves the taxpayer money.

And when it comes to the £85,000 salary on offer for taking on the role, six of the nine candidates say they will take up the full pay package. The other three say they will take considerably less.

The candidates' views and policies are revealed in a comprehensive and wide-ranging survey of their policy commitments and priorities conducted by the KM Group.

Q&A: Read views of each police chief candidate

We asked each of the candidates to respond to a series of questions about the job of police commissioner - outlining why they were standing, what their priorities would be and how they would ensure the taxpayer got value for money from Kent Police.

We also asked how they would make themselves accountable to the public and what they considered to be the personal qualities they had that would help them in the job.

Our survey underlines that privatisation is broadly opposed when it comes to frontline policing.

Not one of the candidates supported the idea, but said they were prepared to consider privatising other services that could be provided by private firms at less cost.

When it came to priorities, there were common themes, with pledges to crack down on anti-social behaviour, pursue organised crime with more energy and to give victims of crime more support.

Several said they wanted to see Kent Police become more open and accountable and more honest over crime rates.

Asked how they intended to make themselves more accountable to the public, most said they would hold regular public meetings where they could be quizzed.

Others said they would use social media to interact with residents and set up interactive websites allowing them to track the progress of crime investigations.

Elected police commissioners are replacing police authorities and will have strategic oversight of the force but not day-to-day operational responsibility, which will rest with the chief constable.

The Kent commissioner will be in charge of setting and controlling a budget of about £275million and will set the priorities for the force.

The election takes place on November 15.