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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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