PCC joins Prime Minister to launch national Beating Crime Plan

Donna Jones, Police and Crime Commissioner for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight was part of the launch of the Prime Minister and Home Secretary’s Beating Crime Plan. Commissioner Jones joined Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Home Secretary Priti Patel and Policing Minister Kit Malthouse at number 10 to announce the plan that sets out the government’s plan to deliver the change across Britain, with less crime, fewer victims, and a safer country.

Commissioner Jones is already implementing initiatives locally that are outlined in the national plan to drive down crime. This includes the delivery of Violence Reduction Units in Hampshire, Portsmouth, Southampton and the Isle of Wight to tackle knife crime, a review of 101 and 999 to improve call answering times and the introduction of an Anti-Social Behaviour Task Force to bring partners and police together to tackle local ASB.

Donna Jones, Police and Crime Commissioner commented on the new national Beating Crime Plan, “The Plan focusses on bringing down crime, particularly violent crime as well as tougher sentences for violent offenders. I am concerned about the growth of knives on local streets and I welcome the recent increased funding to continue to deliver work through the four local Violence Reduction Units to reduce knife crime here in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.

“The Plan introduces steps to make it easier for police officers to use stop and search powers and I wholly welcome this. I was recently speaking with my Youth Commission members and they were asking me to do more stop and search because they don’t feel safe anymore. Sadly young people, particularly boys, are most at risk of being affected by knife crime and there have been some stabbings of young people in our local communities, so until knife crime stops I support stop and search.

“I have pledged to ensure the recruitment of 600 more police officers for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight by the end of 2023, which is part of the Government’s national police uplift to increase the national number of officers by 20,000. The Plan sets out the intention to provide a named officer in local areas so the public know who to contact and this increase in officers will help to make that happen. What I will now do as PCC is work with the Chief Constable to make sure we let local communities know who these officers are and how to contact them because that is what local residents want.

“I will be reviewing the new Beating Crime Plan and drawing in any points that are not currently covered in to my Police and Crime Plan to make local communities safer. Consultation on my priorities and my plan will be launched this month, to give local residents another opportunity to have a say on local policing and what they want to see happen to make them feel safer.”