Angelique Foster, Derbyshire Police and Crime Commissioner, has reviewed the significant progress she has made to meet her pledge to make Derbyshire one of the safest counties in the country.
It is the responsibility of Police and Crime Commissioner's to set out key policing priorities for their area and hold the Chief Constable to account to ensure the force delivers on those priorities. Derbyshire Police and Crime Plan, which sets the overarching strategy for policing Derbyshire and Derby City was published in 2021.
Since her election in 2021, the Commissioner has overseen a wealth of changes to ensure local people are better protected from crime and receive the strong and visible response in their communities they have asked for.
At the latest Performance Scrutiny Meeting (PSM) which is just one of the ways in which she holds the Chief Constable to account for performance, the force presented detailed evidence to highlight the successful delivery of the Commissioner's key Police and Crime Plan priorities.
For example, Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) - a key public priority - is down 50% from pre-Covid levels. At the end of March 2023, compared to the end of March 2020, residential burglary had fell by 31 per cent. In the same period, theft had reduced by over 11%.
Alongside an unprecedented recruitment drive that has brought an extra 351 police officers to Derbyshire's streets, the meeting heard how the Commissioner had successfully lobbied for a return to the non-degree entry route to increase the pool of talent the force could draw on. The College of Policing has now re-established and updated the programme nationwide.
She has also invested in new technology, training and advanced resources to ensure officers are well-equipped to solve community problems and bring offenders to justice. This includes investment in the force's Contact Management Centre which has reduced 101 and 999 call waiting times, with the average time to answer a 999 call now six seconds, and the average wait time for a 101 call reduced by seven minutes to under three minutes. This work has also ensured that the force recognises vulnerability at the earliest opportunity.
In fulfilling her Police and Crime Plan priority to deliver Strong Local Policing, the meeting heard how the Commissioner had also secured £4.4m from the Home Office last year and launched her Derbyshire Action Against Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) Plan, initiating the launch of proactive ‘hotspot' policing patrols in 23 locations across the county and city and a new Immediate Justice scheme making perpetrators pay back their communities for wrongdoing. To date, thousands of extra patrols have taken place resulting in arrests and a range of community resolutions while Derbyshire has secured the highest number of referrals for Immediate Justice in the country.
In meeting her Neighbourhood Crime and ASB priority, the Commissioner launched the Neighbourhood Policing Charter shortly after her election to make clear the many expectations that should be met by officers and staff for the delivery of high-quality, strong local policing. She funded two new ASB Coordinator posts to maximise the use of Civil Orders in bringing redress to victims and supported the introduction of Neighbourhood Acquisitive Teams in January last year to improve the force's response to burglary and increase their investigative capacity. Having made burglary a priority very early on in her term, the force committed to attend all home burglaries - long before it was made a national priority. Data presented during the meeting shows the force attended an average of 98.1 per cent of home burglaries between January and December 2023.
The Commissioner has also invested nearly £500k to boost the county's ANPR coverage to target criminals who use the road network to carry out their crimes.
In meeting her commitment to tackle Road Safety, the Commissioner funded extra enforcement patrols during 2023 through Operation Sparta, identifying 255 additional offences. and in progress to target Rural Crime, the Commissioner's funding has ensured more than £2m of agricultural machinery and vehicles across rural Derbyshire have been protected using Datatag technology since 2021. As a result, the Rural Crime Team was awarded the prestigious 2023 Rob Oliver Award from the Construction Equipment Association (CEA) for excellence in the fight against construction plant and agricultural machinery theft.
The Commissioner has secured a firm focus on Rural Crime, boosting the Rural Crime Team through additional funding and training for officers and staff. The Team undertook 286 criminal investigations into agricultural, heritage, wildlife and equine crimes in the past 12 months alone.
Having launched the Derbyshire Partnership Against Rural Crime (DPARC) in September 2023 to boost support for rural communities and businesses, the meeting heard how the Commissioner has now created a new ‘one stop shop' for farmers, residents, businesses and retailers to provide up-to-date advice and information on how to prevent and report rural crime. It will also highlight the work being carried by the rural crime team and partners.
The Derbyshire Rural Crime Prevention and Support Hub offers information on all rural crime issues including those relating to wildlife and heritage crime. It also directs users to specialised support services in the event they become a victim of crime.
Police and Crime Commissioner Angelique Foster said: "I promised the public I would restore strong local policing and hold the Chief Constable to account on their behalf. The progress made against my Police and Crime Plan priorities-which have been met ahead of schedule- will be welcome by many residents. The public expect a police force that is proactive, well-equipped, and there when they are needed and this is exactly what I have delivered.
"Residents told me that they wanted to feel safer. In response, we have recruited more officers to the streets and developed specialist teams to concentrate on the crimes that cause people the most fear and harm. We have upskilled officers with new training and provided them with better technology and equipment , including more ANPR and Tasers training to solve crime so they can be even more effective at rooting our criminality.
"The proof these changes are working is evident in the stats. ASB has fallen 50% during my term and our roads have seen 22 per cent fewer fatal collisions since 2021.
"There are many more successes. People are more confident to report crime, trusting that the force will take action.
"The credit for these achievements belongs to several organisations and partners, and none of it could have been achieved alone. Our collective efforts have increased trust and confidence in policing across the county and secured Derbyshire's position as a top-performing force.
"There is more to do, but we remain on track to deliver all the changes that were raised by the public when I was elected. I am determined that we continue the hard work and I plan to ensure the force continues to deliver the strong and effective policing residents deserve."
In fulfilling her Victim Support and Safeguarding priority, the Commissioner supported the creation of a dedicated Missing Persons Investigation Team which has helped secure a 12 per cent reduction in missing children at risk of child criminal or sexual exploitation. In other work, the creation of the Serial and Repeat Team last year focusing on cases of high harm repeat victims and serial offenders of sexual offences, stalking, harassment and domestic abuse has seen a 22 per cent decrease in crime committed by the cohort, and in Driving Efficiencies, the introduction of the Most Appropriate Agency Policy (MAA) - ahead of the national curve - has saved around 17,000 officer hours between August 2022 and January 2024. The system ensures call takers determine early on the agency best equipped to respond to a person or situation.