Be part of the Essex Police Challenge
The Essex Police Challenge will become a key part of how I, as the first ever elected Police and Crime Commissioner, hold the Chief Constable of Essex and his senior team to account on behalf of the people of our county.
We all care deeply about crime, and we all want there to be fewer victims of crime. I want everyone who lives, works in or visits our county to know how it is policed, what is being done to fight crime, and where it may be possible to do some things better.
The Essex Police Challenge is a new initiative, designed to allow scrutiny of the Chief Constable to take place in public, in an open and transparent fashion informed by the facts.
I hold weekly scrutiny meetings with Chief Constable Stephen Kavanagh, and I will use some of the knowledge I have of police performance and organisational challenges to inform the meeting and ensure that it addresses important issues of public concern.
I also want to hear from you the questions that you would like me to ask on your behalf. If you have a question for the Chief Constable, please email it to me at:
Alternately, you can write to my office marking your envelope “Essex Police Challenge” (please see the address at the bottom of this article).
You have until 3pm on Wednesday July 31 to submit your questions, and I will then select the three best and most pertinent questions, and put them to Chief Constable Kavanagh, in public, at the meeting.
The Essex Police Challenge will also provide opportunities for the degree of progress against the areas of focus in the Police and Crime Plan to be highlighted and analysed in a public forum.
For the first meeting, the key subjects will be:
1) Crime trends and police performance. There is likely to be a particular emphasis on house burglary and street robbery, which are crimes which deeply concern us all and where there are hot spots in parts of Essex;
2) Area of Focus #1: Improving Road Safety. This section will provide the latest information on the number of people killed or seriously injured on the roads of Essex, and also examine how driver behaviour, such as the use of mobile phones whilst driving, can be addressed;
3) Area of Focus #2: Increasing efficiency in policing through collaborative working and innovation. The discussion will explore three major IT projects and the challenges Essex Police is facing in their implementation:
– Mobile Data Terminals which are designed to enable officers to access real time information whilst on patrol or at a crime scene;
– the force’s new financial, HR and procurement software, SAP;
– Athena, a regional IT initiative designed to modernise policing software for the Twenty First Century.
The Essex Police Challenge meetings will take place every quarter in locations around the county. The first Essex Police Challenge will be held in the Chelmsford City Council Chamber, Duke Street, Chelmsford, CM1 1JE, on Monday August 5, 2013, starting at 10am and finishing at 11:30am. Members of the public and the press are welcome to attend, and we hope that as many people as possible will join the meeting.
Concise briefing notes on the key agenda subjects will be published and made available at the meeting and online on the PCC website: https://www.essex.pfcc.police.uk/
The Essex Police Challenge is a brand new initiative for our county, and I hope as many of you as possible will get involved.
Nick Alston, Police and Crime Commissioner for Essex
PCC for Essex
3 Hoffmanns Way
Chelmsford
Essex
CM1 1GU
Briefing documents for the Essex Police Challenge:
ESSEX POLICE PERFORMANCE FIGURES 050813
CHIEF CONSTABLE CRIME OVERVIEW 050813
