I am committed to ensuring Surrey residents are safe and feel safe, putting residents’ voices first, and championing excellent neighbourhood policing. Over the past 3 years, I have helped secure:
- More police in Surrey than ever before, keeping our communities safe and pursuing offenders.
- More than £10m extra funding to support projects across the county to cut crime and anti-social behaviour.
- A ‘back to basics’ approach for Surrey Police, cutting crime and prioritising what matters most to residents.
I have a proven track record of delivering for Surrey residents and communities. From hiring a new Chief Constable for the county who shares my commitment to delivering for residents and pursuing offenders, to helping roll out national changes in policing such as Right Care Right Person.
My Police and Crime Plan was the most widely consulted Police and Crime Plan in Surrey’s history and includes 5 key priorities:
- Preventing violence against women and girls.
- Protecting people from harm in Surrey.
- Working with Surrey communities so that they feel safe.
- Strengthening relationships between Surrey Police and Surrey residents.
- Ensuring safer Surrey roads.
To help you understand the work I have done to help deliver these priorities, I have outlined some of my top achievements in each of the 5 areas below, as well as some information about how I am helping to deliver Right Care, Right Person.
Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls
- Securing £1m of funding from the Home Office’s ‘What Works’ fund to deliver fully funded teacher training courses across the county. These courses are empowering PSHE teachers to deliver lessons that foster resilience and self-confidence in children and young people, tackling behaviour associated with violence against women and girls from a young age.
- Developing a countywide ‘Perpetrator Hub’, that tackles the root causes of violence against women and girls, and brings the focus squarely onto the perpetrator and their behaviour, rather than that of the victim.
- Ensuring a full force-wide re-vetting of all Surrey officers and staff and a continued monitoring of management of misconduct allegations. This included me leading by example and undergoing a full re-vetting herself to highlight the importance of this process.
Protecting People from Harm in Surrey
- Implementing Surrey’s first countywide anti-social behaviour survey, to improve understanding of both the scale and impact of the issue in Surrey. This lead to further focus groups and ongoing work to improve the response to ASB.
- Highlighting the level of fraud occurring both nationally and in Surrey, helping our vulnerable residents know how to spot the signs and protect themselves from falling victim to fraudsters.
- Being a champion for victims across our county, convening partners from a variety of agencies to discuss, plan, and ultimately deliver improvements to the care that victims of crime receive in Surrey.
Working with Communities So That They Feel Safe
- Securing additional funding through the Government’s ‘Safer Streets’ funding rounds for projects in Epsom, Sunbury Cross, Addlestone, Tandridge, Woking, Walton, Redhill and Guildford.
- Providing £58,000 of funding for the policing aspect of the upcoming Clear, Hold, Build project. This is a Government initiative that involves partnership working with the aim of making areas safer by tackling organised crime, improving confidence in the police, and developing community resillience.
- Working with retailers and Surrey Police to help combat shoplifting in communities across our county, and supporting the police commitment to urgently attend shoplifting scenes where violence has been committed against workers.
Strengthening Relationships Between Surrey Police and Surrey Residents
- Overseeing significant improvements in both 101 and 999 call performance, with wait times now at their lowest levels in the Force’s history, so that residents can be confident that Surrey Police will always be there when they need them.
- Regularly hosting or attending residents meetings in all areas of the county, giving residents the opportunity to share concerns and ask questions of their Police and Crime Commissioner.
- Delivering a ‘Policing Your Community’ roadshow, allowing residents the chance to meet our new Chief Constable, hear his plans for the future of Surrey Police, and speak to their Borough Commander about local issues.
- Hosting monthly surgery sessions, so that residents who need help from the Commissioner have direct access and those who simply wish to ask questions have the opportunity to do so.
- Introducing Surrey’s first policing Youth Commission, overseen by the Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner, to ensure that the voice of the next generation is at the heart of policing and community safety in Surrey.
Ensuring Safer Surrey Roads
- Welcoming and supporting Surrey Police’s dedicated Vanguard team. This team works in addition to Surrey’s dedication Roads Policing Unit to help reduce deaths and serious injuries on our roads. Vanguard focus on tackling the ‘Fatal 5’ offences of inappropriate speed, careless driving, driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, distracted driving (such as using a mobile phone, and not wearing a seatbelt.
- Leading the national transport portfolio on behalf of all Police and Crime Commissioners, to ensure Surrey’s voice is at the heart of national policy.
- Supporting Surrey Police’s response to M25 protests, including raising at a national level challenges around the Crown Prosecution Service’s response and the impact this had on both road safety and policing demand across the county.
Right Care Right Person
As the national Police and Crime Commissioner portfolio lead for Mental Health, I have also played a key role in the planning and roll out of the Right Care, Right Person initiative. There are two key ambitions behind this model:
1. To ensure that those in mental health crisis receive the most appropriate care from the best placed person and services.
2. To reduce demand on policing for non crime related incidents.
A person in crisis should not end up in the back of a police car. The focus must be on the individual at risk and prioritising their needs by providing them with the right care from the right person.
It is estimated that this will save around 1 million hours of police time each year, allowing police to focus on the jobs only police can do, such as preventing and detecting crime.
This roll out has not been rushed, and close work with partners is ongoing as these changes are implemented. Where there is a threat to life or risk of serious injury, police will continue to respond and assist.
