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What does the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner do for Essex?

 

The role of the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner in Essex (PFCC) is to be the voice of the people. The PFCC also actively monitors and scrutinises the performance of Essex Police. For example, when Roger Hirst was first elected in 2016, he committed to delivering local, visible and accessible policing. Since then, Essex Police has grown by 900 officers, making it the largest it has ever been.

The PFCC is also responsible for monitoring and scrutinising Essex County Fire and Rescue Service (ECFRS), to ensure they are delivering an efficient and effective service. For example, in the Fire and Rescue Plan, the Commissioner has committed to ensuring the service educates and informs young people. During the pandemic the joint education team gave safety lessons to more than 46,000 school children.

The PFCC’s statutory duties include agreeing the budget for Essex Police and ECFRS and for overseeing how these budgets are spent, ensuring taxpayers get good value for money. In addition, the PFCC works with local and national government to set the amount of money you will pay for policing and the fire service as part of your annual council tax bill. These charges are known as the ‘policing precept’ and the ‘fire precept’.

The Commissioner works with a range of organisations, across both business and voluntary sectors to deliver an improved service to the people of Essex. Through the Community Safety Development Fund, the PFCC awards grants to different organisations who work hard to make our communities safer and help victims of crime.

Why do we need a PFCC?

PCCs were introduced to strengthen the link between public and the police. They also provide independent oversight of their local police forces nationally. They are not allowed to be police officers or interfere in operational policing decisions.

Like a relationship between a Chairman and a Chief Executive Officer, the PFCC provides independent oversight, scrutiny, and council to Chief Constables.

In Essex, since October 2017, we have a Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner who works with both Essex Police and Essex County Fire and Rescue Service.

What has the increase in the public’s tax contribution being spent on?

2022/2023 precept link

Essex Police

200 more police officers, taking the force up to 3,755 officers by March 2023 the largest it’s ever been. Of those extra officers:

  • 68 will be focused on tackling violence in all forms including violence against women and girls, domestic abuse and drug driven violence
  • 78 will concentrate on crime prevention work and being visible in communities including boosting town centre and community policing teams
  • 44 will focus on investigating crime and building a more professional force
  • 10 will support the Regional Organised Crime Unit
  • There will also be more than 70 police staff roles supporting the areas above.

 

Essex County Fire and Rescue Service

The additional investment will allow Essex County Fire and Rescue Services to manage inflationary pressures and continue to invest in improving its service to the public, including:

  • Fire Protection Capacity to provide an effective response to the increased risk identified in the Grenfell Tower Inquiry.
  • Investing in prevention activity
  • Improved training provision and resources for firefighters
  • Recruiting and retaining on-call firefighters

What is the public’s tax money being spent on?

For 2022/2023 the budget will go on:

Graphics showing precept figures

Essex Police

200 more police officers, taking the force up to 3,755 officers by March 2023 the largest it’s ever been. Of those extra officers:

  • 68 will be focused on tackling violence in all forms including violence against women and girls, domestic abuse and drug driven violence
  • 78 will concentrate on crime prevention work and being visible in communities including boosting town centre and community policing teams
  • 44 will focus on investigating crime and building a more professional force
  • 10 will support the Regional Organised Crime Unit
  • There will also be more than 70 police staff roles supporting the areas above.

How has the PFCC improved services for the people in Essex?

The PFCC works with a range of organisations, across both business and voluntary sectors to deliver an improved service to the people of Essex. Through the Community Safety Development Fund, the PFCC awards grants to different organisations which support the delivery of the Police and Crime Plan.

Some of the Community Safety Development Grant success stories can be found here: Community Grants – Essex Police, Fire & Crime Commissioner (pfcc.police.uk)

In addition to this, one of the key priorities for the PFCC is supporting victims of crime. The Deputy Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, Jane Gardner, is the Chair of the Southend, Essex and Thurrock Domestic Abuse Board and works closely with Essex Police and partner agencies across Essex to help break the cycle of domestic abuse. The Commissioner secures funding for services which will support victims of Domestic Violence and Sexual Abuse. As well as, running the Restorative Justice team, who work with victims and offenders to achieve a resolution to a crime or conflict.

Police

Since 2016, Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, Roger Hirst, has secured the funding for over 900 officers. In August 2022, Essex Police reached the record number of officers in its 182-year history, with 3,623 Full Time Equivalent officers currently serving or in training.

A continued focus on rural crime with a dedicated team focusing on unauthorised encampments, hare coursing and rural theft. The work of this dedicated team has seen a reduction in the number of unauthorised encampments from 229 in 2018 to 182 for the 12 months to March 2021.

The Special Constabulary is the second largest in the country with more people volunteering with Essex police than ever before.

The Police Cadet programme is the largest in the Eastern Region with 410 Cadets and 80 leaders.

Essex Police has the Largest Community Safety Accreditation Scheme in the country with 460 people, 44 organisations working together with the police across the county.

£605,967 of extra funding was secured for local domestic abuse charities to increase the capacity of local services in the year 2021-22.

Sexual violence organisations were provided with £415,000 of extra funding to support their work during COVID including the provision of extra counselling.

In July 2020 the Serious Violence Unit (SVU) was established to target gang leaders and County Line Gangs. Between the 1st April 2020 and the 25th March 2021, the work of the SVU has resulted in 288 arrests, 268 people have been charged so far, £300,082 of cash has been seized and £598,000 worth of drugs. The success of the unit has led to further investment and growth being planned for 2021- 2022.

Each year the PFCC produces a Annual Report setting out what has been achieved during the year. These provide a lot more information and are available on their website.

PFCC-Annual-Report-2020-21-FINAL-Web.pdf

Essex County Fire and Rescue Service:

ECFRS attended 14,339 incidents from April 2020 to March 2021; that’s down from 15,243 the previous year, with the total number of incidents attended by the Service decreasing consistently over the last four years.

In 2020/21, the Prevention team carried out 4,346 home fire safety visits to vulnerable people in Essex where they fitted 5,865 smoke alarms including 753 sensory alarms. The team also supplied 1,349 smoke alarms during doorstep deliveries for people without working smoke alarms in their home during the pandemic.

Reaching school-aged children has also been a priority, and ECFRS’s education team moved their education hub online. All schools were contacted to make them aware of the education offer available, resulting in 20,576 pupils still receiving education advice.

The Protection team completed 7,202 jobs in 2020/21, this includes 319 full audits and 2,293 desktop audits against premises. 99.6% of statutory consultations received were responded to within 15 working days by the team.

pdf_1646305774.pdf (essex-fire.gov.uk)

 

How does the Commissioner know what our communities need?

Roger Hirst is committed to involving the people of Essex in the decisions made on their behalf.  He wants to understand your needs and views on the services he provides, particularly when working in partnership with Essex Police, Essex County Fire and Rescue Service and other organisations.

Throughout the year the Commissioner will run surveys to understand your views on specific issues.

In addition to answering public correspondence daily, Roger Hirst meets with MP’s and Councillors regularly to hear and understand issues that Essex communities are facing.

The PFCC regularly holds public meetings to discuss any issues affecting different communities. Keep an eye out on our events page for a public meeting near you: Events Archive – Essex Police, Fire & Crime Commissioner (pfcc.police.uk)

 

What is the background of the PFCC?

Prior to his election as Commissioner, Mr. Hirst was Cabinet Member at Essex County Council with responsibility for Community Safety; Deputy Leader of Brentwood Borough Council; and has 33 years’ experience as a senior investment banker.

CONTACT THE PFCC

PFCC for Essex, Kelvedon Park, London Road, Rivenhall, Witham, Essex, CM8 3HB
01245 291600

If your enquiry relates to operational policing or a crime please contact Essex Police

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