When I was elected earlier this year, my pledge was to do everything I could as Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) to make Bedfordshire safer for its residents, businesses, and its visitors.

A New Strategy for Safety and Fairness

To help with this, I have launched a public consultation to develop my new Police and Crime Plan to create a safer and fairer Bedfordshire. This consultation is based on the key objectives for the plan for the next four years.

The theme of the Police and Crime Plan to be published in the Autumn is a safer and fairer Bedfordshire – and this is a plan for social and criminal justice.

Before we finalise the plan, I want to hear the views of residents, businesses, and communities across the county. Please take part in the consultation via an online survey.

My Missions

Monthly Column A Fairer And Safer Bedfordshire – A Plan For Social And Criminal Justice

Source: https://www.bedfordindependent.co.uk/monthly-column-a-fairer-and-safer-bedfordshire-a-plan-for-social-and-criminal-justice/

I am adopting a mission-driven approach to ensuring that policing and the wider criminal justice system are mission-led and are focused on the outcomes that the residents and businesses of Bedfordshire want and deserve.

My missions reflect what residents, local businesses, police officers, staff, and stakeholders across the county are telling me:

  • Prevention – work as a partnership to prevent crime.
  • Tackle serious crime – reduce serious and organised crime as well as serious youth violence.
  • Tackle Violence against Women and Children (VAWC) – reduce violence and protect all women and children.
  • Excellence – move towards an excellent police service and criminal justice system.
  • Local policing – work with local communities to engage, prevent and solve crime and community issues.
  • Victims – put victims at the heart of the criminal justice system.

Working Together with Partners

I am committed to working alongside Bedfordshire Police and all its partners within the criminal justice system to show a zero tolerance of crime and equally to the causes of crime.

This includes improving policing, reforming a broken criminal justice system, protecting victims, and addressing the social and economic causes of crime in Bedfordshire.

We must also ensure that the rights of individuals and communities are always respected and safeguarded.

To tackle crime and make our county safer will require all our local public bodies, local businesses, and residents to commit to this goal. Bedfordshire Police and the PCC cannot do this on our own. We all have responsibilities and must fulfil these.

Tackling inequality and social injustice is as important as tackling crime if we are to realise this ambition.

My view is that whilst they have powers of arrest and enforcement to protect citizens, the police service is a public service like the NHS, local government, schools, and other public services.

In terms of prevention, we must take every step we can to prevent people, especially young people, from getting into crime – voluntarily or involuntarily – and if they do, where appropriate, avoid criminal sentences.

Your Views and Ideas

Please take the time to complete the survey. I very much look forward to hearing your views and ideas before I finalise a Police and Crime Plan that will make our county safer and fairer.

You can read the full list of the core objectives here: https://www.bedfordshire.pcc.police.uk/police-crime-plan/.

Link to survey:

The survey will be open from 22 July – 23 August 2024.