Keep up to date with the Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner

 

Katy Bourne launching Project Pegasus

Our Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner, Katy Bourne, emails out a weekly newsletter on a Friday at 5pm. If you would like to sign up for this weekly newsletter and keep up to date with the work she and Sussex Police are doing, click on this link.  I've reproduced this week's newsletter below.

This week, with the support and endorsement of the Policing Minister Chris Philp MP, the Home Office and 13 of the country’s top retailers, I was able to officially launch ‘Pegasus’. Pegasus is a business and police partnership which I’ve convened. It will radically improve the way retailers are able to share intelligence with policing, to better understand the tactics used by organised retail crime gangs and identify more offenders. This will also include development of a new information-sharing platform and training for retailers. The businesses involved (Tesco; Sainsbury's; Aldi; Lidl; Co-op; Next; M&S; Boots; Primark; B&Q; Morrisons; John Lewis Partnership; TJX; NBCS and Mitie) have pledged to fund a new police team of specialist officers and analysts to work within policing in a structure called OPAL - the national team that oversees serious and organised acquisitive crime - run by Chief Constable Amanda Blakeman. The team will build a comprehensive intelligence picture of the organised crime gangs that drive many shoplifting incidents across the country, to help police forces target and dismantle them. The Pegasus launch took place on Monday at 10 Downing Street and it was great to be joined by the retail representatives who are partners in the project. Pegasus will be a game-changer in the fight against retail crime providing, for the first time ever, an accurate national picture of the organised gangs (from local families to cross-border criminals) driving organised shop theft. You can read about the objectives and desired outcomes of Pegasus as well as hear what retailers have to say on my website.

A career that matters

As your PCC, I continue to make a commitment to residents to restore and build on the visible policing presence that communities find so reassuring. In 2022/23, I was pleased to announce that an additional 192 Police officers were recruited to Sussex – this increase in officers can partly be attributed to what you pay for policing through your local council tax. Sussex Police are currently open for recruitment and are looking for compassionate, dedicated and community-minded people to start their policing career - whether that be as a Police Community Support Officer, 999/101 Contact Handler, Police Constable or other staff member. Policing offers a challenging yet rewarding career and is undoubtedly a job like no other. For more information and to find a list of all current vacancies, visit the Sussex Police website. Katy Bourne OBE Sussex Police & Crime Commissioner

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Progress on our West Sussex Roads

The leader of West Sussex County Council, Cllr Paul Marshall, has written about the progress we are making with the additional investment we've put into our highway network. I really welcome the improvements we are seeing and have reproduced Paul's article below.    

"In July this year I announced that your county council had launched a “Better Roads” campaign - a £14.5 million investment into repairs and flood prevention work across the 4,000km of highways we maintain in West Sussex. I’d like to update you now on the progress we’ve made this summer and the returns we’re starting to see from this investment.

I continue to share your frustrations about potholes, so I’m pleased to be able to say that we’ve repaired more than 16,700 since April, the vast majority of which have been filled in using the “cut/sawn” method to create a neater, more durable seal that ensures the repair work lasts longer.

We’ve secured access to more machinery too and now have three specialist Velocity patcher machines in operation across the county. They’re perfect for repairing larger stretches of road and are quicker and more agile, meaning our roads don’t have to remain closed for as long. We’ve used them to complete more than 15,500 safety repairs so far since April, compared with 9,000 for the whole of last year.

But we haven’t just been working on repairing potholes. We’re also on target to clear vegetation from more than 5,000 road signs across West Sussex this year, having cleared more than 2,800 so far to make junctions and highways more visible and safer for all road users.

Of course, there’s more to be done and we’re now preparing for the winter and the likely impact of colder, wetter weather on our roads and pavements.

Agility in our workforce continues to be key, ensuring we’re making best use of our resources. As well as increasing the number of gangs working on repairs, we’re keeping close watch on trends and hotspots so we can prioritise repairs and move our teams to where they need to be quickly and effectively.

We will continue to focus on delivering high-quality repairs that last longer and keep our ditches and gullies clear to help reduce flooding.

You can keep up to date with our progress on our website, where you’ll find details of the scale of the challenge, how we prioritise repairs, what we’ve fixed and what’s next.

While good roads are of course vital to our economy, and while we continue to invest in them, they are just half the story. In Our Council Plan we set out our ambitions and priorities for a sustainable economy, a protected environment, cohesive communities and opportunities for people to fulfil their potential, all of which rely on a range of travel options.

And there is plenty we’re doing to provide that choice.Whether it’s our trial at three schools to encourage families to leave the car at home on the school run, or the £420,000 worth of works to improve pedestrian links, bus access and signage completed this summer at a further 13 schools, we’re working hard to promote sustainable and active forms of travel and help people feel more confident to walk and cycle.

If you’d like a say on how we develop sustainable travel options across the county, take part in our Active Travel survey, which runs until 15 November. Your views will help shape our plans for the next decade. Public transport continues to play a vital role too, and our Bus Service Improvement Plan is helping the county’s bus network flourish. A great example of our support is our “Book-A-Bus” scheme which launched earlier this summer. It is helping to connect communities around Chichester and Petworth with a new, flexible, on-demand service that you can book when you need it via an app or a phone call.

I often say how lucky we are here in West Sussex to live in one of the most beautiful parts of the country, with so much choice in terms of places to visit right on our doorstep. Ultimately, whether you’re heading to school, to work, the shops, the cinema, theatre or restaurant, or to a park, the countryside or the seafront, we want you to be able to get there in a way that’s safe, convenient, affordable, effective and that limits the impact on the environment.

Your county council will continue to invest in our highways infrastructure and maintenance alongside schemes that reduce congestion, reduce journey times, improve safety, enhance the environment and create options for more active, sustainable travel.

But we can’t solve the problem alone and we will continue to lobby for additional funding from government to continue the investment, meet our ambitions in Our Council Plan and deliver benefits for West Sussex communities.

In the meantime, whether you’re driving, walking, cycling, busing or scooting, I hope you are starting to see for yourself the results of our investments and are able to take advantage of the many ways in which we’re working to improve travel and transport throughout West Sussex."

Increasing Investment in Defence

 

While others seek short-term political advantage to suit the flavour of the day, most notably the leader of the Labour Party, who has evolved from ‘Captain Hindsight’ to ‘Captain Flip Flop’, the Conservative Government is rightly getting on and focusing on the long-term issues that are important for our country - a vital one being defence.

Having grown up during the Cold War and then seeing it end, I had hoped that the world would become a more peaceful place, but sadly the opposite is now becoming true. Western complacency has enabled other state actors who themselves have benefited from, but do not themselves adhere to a rules-based international order, to become increasingly powerful on the global stage, economically, diplomatically, and militarily. Following Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, many of our European allies better realise that we achieve peace through strength, not through appeasement.

Ensuring NATO remains the strongest military alliance on the planet is the cornerstone of our future peace and security. Of NATO’s 31 members, only 7 met their 2% GDP spending on defence commitment last year. In Europe, the only two large countries that managed it were the UK and Poland.

The Conservatives are maintaining our leading position in NATO by working to grow defence spending to a higher target of 2.5% of GDP, which will help grow our economy and ensure future security. Defence spending is now over £50 billion a year for the first time ever, and I observe that many local and skilled jobs in Crawley are dependent upon our strong defence industry.

Another important alliance for us is AUKUS, which promotes a free, open, secure and stable Indo-Pacific. The development of the UK’s hunter-killer AUKUS submarines is being progressed, with contracts signed worth £4 billion that will support thousands of highly skilled jobs. These are the largest and most powerful attack submarines ever operated by the Royal Navy and will be the world’s most advanced nuclear submarines. In an ever more volatile and contested world, I am grateful we have a government who take decisive and long-term decisions to ensure our future security.

Ever Thought About Being A Foster Carer?

Image taken from the Any of Us film

Yesterday I was pleased to attend a Fostering event held in Horsham and as a West Sussex County Councillor, I am keen to help spread the word about how great fostering can be. Below I've reproduced the press release issued by West Sussex County Council today. There are two links at the foot of the article, one to the Fostering West Sussex website and the other to the Any of Us short film that is well worth watching.

 

News release 28 September 2023

 "My biggest regret is that we didn’t do it sooner" - Horsham event promotes fostering in West Sussex

 West Sussex County Council leaders joined foster carers and care experienced young people yesterday (27 September) at Horsham’s The Capitol Theatre to support and promote fostering across the county.  

Attendees heard about the challenge of finding local carers for the growing number of children in care and how the impact this has. Councillors were called upon to become Fostering Ambassadors and were able to speak to foster carers about their day-to-day experiences and the many amazing outcomes they have achieved. A photography exhibition, Through Our Eyes: Life in Care, helped to highlight the positive impact that carers have had on the lives of young people, several of whom were happy to share their personal experiences. 

The event, hosted by West Sussex County Council’s Fostering team, was an opportunity to showcase a new short film to promote fostering for your Local Authority. Any Of Us is the sixth film produced by a growing partnership of councils and children’s trusts and this project will be the largest public sector fostering film collaboration yet, with over 80 participants from across the country. 

Any Of Us looks at three very different, ordinary people who all show some of the attributes needed to be a foster carer in incidents from their daily lives. Each encounters a different scenario where they show the caring instinct that is fundamental to being a foster carer. 

Tracy, a foster carer from Crawley said: “We wondered whether we were enough, what skills could we bring, would it be good enough? Yes, we were enough. We were able to our open hearts and our homes. We were able to comfort, reassure and support. My biggest regret is that we didn’t do it sooner.”   

Councillor Jacquie Russell, Cabinet Member for Children & Young People, Learning & Skills attended the event and said: “Fostering can be an incredibly rewarding experience and we desperately need more foster carers here in West Sussex. As the Any Of Us film shows, foster carers are ordinary people, just like you, who come from a range of backgrounds. The collaborative production of this film is a great example of how we are working with other Local Authorities and trusts, pulling together expertise and resources to create a powerful message that hopefully will resonate with many people. 

“We urge anyone who has a spare room and an interest in helping children and young people to think about becoming a foster carer in West Sussex. We are committed to keeping children and young people safe and helping them fulfil their potential, and our foster carers are critical to this. Get in touch with our team to find out more about our comprehensive support package.” 

Foster carers for West Sussex County Council receive comprehensive training, ongoing professional support and a competitive financial package of up to £28,500 a year (per child). 

Watch Any Of Us here: Any of Us – Foster for WSCC

Welcoming the Online Safety Bill

It is well-known that it is challenging for legislation to keep up with changes in technology. The internet has a wealth of knowledge but there are dangers, and keeping children safe has become a growing concern. Therefore, I’m very pleased to see that the Online Safety Bill has been passed and will become law. 

This bill will make the internet safer for children while also protecting free speech and giving adults more control over what they see. I welcome this world-leading legislation from our Conservative Government that brings in measures to protect children from the worst of what’s online.

The bill criminalises the encouragement of self-harm, it requires firms to show how they enforce user age limits, while prohibiting platforms from banning users where they do not breach their terms of service. Companies that fail to protect children will be fined, while ensuring that tech firms and future governments cannot censor legitimate views.

While increasing protections for children, adults will have more power transferred to them over what content is visible. Companies will have to keep underage children off platforms intended solely for adults and social media firms required to remove illegal content from their platforms.

The Online Safety Bill will create a new criminal offence of assisting or encouraging self-harm online. Social media in particular presents significant risks to children. The bill requires social media companies to be fully transparent with consumers by removing content that they say is prohibited in their terms of service or face a fine of up to 10% of annual turnover. I genuinely believe this legislation will be a very positive step in the right direction.

Locally, West Sussex County Council email out an informative monthly newsletter called Staying Safe Online, which provides helpful advice and tips for helping to keep everyone safe online, including how we as adults can help keep our children safe. You can sign up to this newsletter here. As well as this newsletter, the County Council has helpful web pages about staying safe online which can be found here.