Bedfordshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) has stressed that it is vital to report crime.

PCC John Tizard said Bedfordshire Police “can’t respond or deal with something they’re not aware of” and that policing is “heavily data-driven.”

“So the more we know of the pattern of crime, location of crime, type of crime, this enables the Chief Constable and senior officers to use that information to deploy resources,” he said.

“Ultimately, if the police are being held to account — and I’m being held to account in turn — we need to know what level of crime there is.”

The PCC said he hopes the second stage of his Police and Crime Plan will encourage more people to come forward and report incidents.

“Reporting crime does matter. The police take every crime seriously. Every reported crime is recorded, even if you don’t get an immediate response — it will help shape policing,” he said.

He said he regularly emphasizes the importance of reporting crime during public meetings and local authority visits.

“Recently, I’ve met a number of retailers across the county who tell me, rightly, that they’re concerned about retail crime,” he said.

“I get quite alarmed when I go back and ask the police that a [retailer] is saying that they’re getting a lot of shoplifting in their store in High Street, Bedford. And then the police record says they’ve not had one one crime reported from [the store].”

The PCC said applying good customer service principles — keeping victims informed and explaining police decisions — is key to restoring trust.

“Because it may be you report a crime and the police won’t respond immediately because it’s not life and death,” he said.

“They may not respond immediately because actually there’s a little they can do, they’ll give you a crime number and they’ll record it.

“What I think is really important is they inform the caller, the victim, that’s what they’re doing and why they’re not pursuing it and they keep them informed.

“And progress updates where they are pursuing it, even if that report is to say ‘we haven’t got the evidence yet, it may be another X weeks’,” he said.

He said the force could be “a lot, lot better” at explaining what happens after a report is made.

“That, in turn, also encourages more people to report crime,” he said.

He also acknowledged that a lack of trust may stop people from coming forward in the first place.

“My message is that the police are there for them, whoever they are, wherever they live in the county,” he said.

“I recognise that’s not necessarily their perception, so we’ve got to do a lot more building trust.

“Ultimately, public confidence comes from good, effective delivery, so we’ve got to detect and solve more crimes,” he said.

To better understand public perception, the PCC plans to commission an “effective” survey or poll to replace the anecdotal evidence of trust in Bedfordshire Police.

“And how can we then tackle and address that.”