Prevention is key focus for year in office

It’s been a year today (9^th May) since I was elected to be the voice of the public in keeping Cheshire safe. My focus on prevention and intervention is stronger than ever, especially when it comes to empowering local communities to thrive.

To achieve this, I’ve launched multiple initiatives so far. Now seems like a good time to reflect on their impact in our communities.

58 projects across the county have benefitted from £200k of funding in just six months, after I launched my SWAP fund. It’s Cheshire’s largest ever community fund – the largest by a Cheshire Police and Crime Commissioner -, taking money seized from criminal activity and using it to fund positive community projects.

I’m also the first Police and Crime Commissioner in the country to run citizens’ assemblies, bringing together almost 60 people from all walks of life, pro-police, anti-police, ex-offenders, victims and survivors of crime from the Crewe and Nantwich areas to better understand the issues of criminality that are impacting them on a day-to-day basis.

Having a better understanding of what issues are affecting our communities helps us to tailor our prevention and intervention services, and link in with councils and other organisations to help bring about the changes people think would help.

I have further citizens’ assemblies planned, with Runcorn and Widnes the next two in the pipeline which will happen later this year.

Prevention is also critical in the business space and work is being done to help support the business community in lots of different areas.

I am working with businesses to help educate and empower them to recognise their vulnerabilities in the cyber security area and have funded a programme to ensure businesses get the cyber security help they need.

I also launched the initiative to help ex-offenders gain long-term employment, breaking the cycle of re-offending.

As you can see, there has been a lot of work done in the first 12 months of my term. There’s still lots more happening, and I am committed to doing all I can to ensure I am the voice of the public and will help to tackle crime.