Police and Crime Commissioner, Donna Jones, has spoken about her vision for Hampshire and Isle of Wight to be 2 of the safest counties in the country to live in and the priority actions she will be taking as part of her Police and Crime Plan.
Top of the agenda is to recruit an additional 600 officers by the end of 2023, whilst also freeing up officers from bureaucracy to improve the amount of time spent out on the streets.
The vision was set out at the first panel meeting held on Friday (2nd July). The Hampshire Police and Crime Panel is responsible for scrutinising and supporting the Police and Crime Commissioner. This includes reviewing the Police and Crime Plan draft and the decisions and actions of the Commissioner.
Commissioner Jones said:
“My vision as your commissioner, as a parent, and as a citizen is that Hampshire and Isle of Wight are places children and elderly people can walk the streets without fear.
“People have told me unequivocally, in a crime survey I ran last year, that they want more police on the streets. More police means more detection and prevention, and my number one priority is to have 600 more officers by end of 2023. But it is not only about having extra officers, if you don’t see them people don’t feel safer, we need to make sure we do everything we can to free up officers from bureaucracy so they can spend more time out and visible on the streets.
“In addition to increased visibility of policing I also want to make it easier to report crime and to make the way crime reports are dealt with more customer service focused and so there will be a review of the 101 service and alternative ways to report to the police.
“Anti-social behaviour is increasing and is something that I am hearing about regularly from residents, and local representatives. I am listening and taking action. I am setting up an ASB taskforce to bring together the organisations locally that need to work together to tackle ASB because it is not just a police matter.
Article continues below this advertisement “One of the best and easiest ways to prevent and reduce crime and therefore levels of harm is if you can stop them young people from becoming criminals in the first place. We need to not criminalise children and we need to be educating children at the top end of primary.”
Chair of the Police and Crime Panel. Councillor Simon Bound said:
“I look forward to working alongside the new Police and Crime Commissioner and reviewing the new draft Police and Crime Plan – ensuring it serves the best interests of the community.”
The Isle of Wight, one of the safest places, might of been 10 or so years ago, but not anymore….. Does she read the echo or any island news to see how crime and violent crime is massively increasing…. Get out of the office and try and visit people who live and work on the Island and not just go for a jolly with the local MP.
Nice words but until the police get out on foot enforcing the law it is all meaningless waffle, at the present we see them driving round and utterly ignoring low level crime because they either cannot be bothered or it is too much trouble to process, every year the precept goes up yet we get less and less actual policing.
when shoplifters are actually pursued,arrested and punished, as well as burglars being chased down and locked up, along with deadbeat drunk sc umbags being dispersed then and only then will her words actually mean anything.
Why are there not any old bill on mountain bikes any more ? They are quite good at sneaking up on people..?
Recently ‘County lines’ drug running has become entrenched on the island, to the dismay of most decent residents. However we are finding it hard to get the Police to deal with this as a serious issue, despite the fact that we are even seeing children becoming ensnared by it.
It has been shocking to see how quickly this has taken off, even in rural areas.
Is there anything to indicate that this situation might improve ?
What REALLY needs addressing is the weak ‘slap on the wrist’ sentences handed out by out of date judges and magistrates. It must be so frustrating for police officers to see their hard work frittered away all the while.
I agree with you, the weak sentencing sends out the wrong message.