Bedfordshire's police and crime commissioner wants your views on new crime plan
The police and crime commissioner (PCC) is asking people to take part in a survey to help form his two-part police and crime plan for a “safer and fairer Bedfordshire”.
Residents are being asked to share their views on the core objectives of the PCC’s Police and Crime Plan.
In an interview with the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), the PCC, John Tizard, said: “We are effectively going to have a two-staged approach to the plan.
“There’ll be a plan from October of this year through to March 25, which will give us an opportunity to have a much more robust plan for the remaining three years.
“[This] will give us an opportunity to have a much greater stakeholder engagement and the views of residents, businesses, police, and our criminal justice partners.
“But also with the change of government we know there will be some changes to national priorities.
“And I suspect clear targets in some areas that we didn’t have previously will need to be accommodated.
“We will have the spending review in the autumn, so hopefully we’ll have a better understanding of the finances to fund the plan.
“I don’t want a plan that’s a wonderful aspiration, but it’s not affordable.
“It’s very much clear objectives for the first nine months and a process for getting us a much more robust plan for the next three years,” he said.
The PCC was elected in May. The LDRS asked how much of the plan will feature the previous PCC’s plans.
Commissioner Tizard said: “There will be continuity, because clearly the police. service and the wider criminal justice system has not changed dramatically since May.
“I think that the real difference between the plan I’m going to produce and the previous one is that we’re going to be much more focused on clear, measurable objectives, so I can be held to account and I can hold the police to account in turn.
“I think it’s fair to say the previous plan was much woollier than that.”
As many of the decisions for Bedfordshire Police are operational and are the responsibility of the Chief Constable and outside of the PCC’s remit, why not just scrap the PCC role?
“My role is to set the strategy and the direction, it’s to be the voice of the residents and businesses of the county,” the PCC said.
“It’s not my intention to step on the chief constable’s operational toes.
“There will clearly be a boundary. and it’s quite right to have a dialogue and some challenge, and ultimately I have to hold him to account for delivering an effective and efficient police service.”
You can fill out the survey online and visit the PPC’s website to find out more about the police and crime plan core objectives.