'I want reports of crime to go up': Northants police fire and crime commissioner on five-year plan
The Police Fire and Crime Commissioner (PFCC) for Northamptonshire has set out her vision for creating a new five-year plan to champion public safety.
PFCC Danielle Stone is due to release her first plan for the police and fire services since she was elected to the role in May. She revealed on Thursday (September 19) that the mission- which has provisionally been called 'Safe and Sound'- will focus on rebuilding trust and confidence in police and fire and upholding professionalism and standards.
Ms Stone said: "My office has undertaken a huge amount of work with groups all over the county asking them about their levels of confidence and trust in policing.
"It doesn't matter what the demographic is, it doesn't matter if it's urban or rural- trust and confidence is low. We just absolutely cannot have that.
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"I know that the police force is absolutely solidly with me on working close to the ground, with our communities, within neighbourhoods to grow that.
"I don't want to go into any more schools and ask young people what their first priority and hear from them that they want to feel safe- I want them to be safe."
She said the project would involve rebuilding neighbourhood policing and making sure fire staff are at the heart of their communities. This would include having accessible local police officers and fire and rescue professionals who know their patch.
The commissioner also highlighted her three priority areas as curbing violence against women and girls, understanding the needs of young people and rebuilding the criminal justice system.
Ms Stone added: "We've got a massive amount of underreporting. I want crime figures for retail crime to go up, I want crime figures for reported rapes to go up.
"The more comfortable women feel about the criminal justice system the more reporting there will be. The more effective our policing and our neighbourhood patrols are the more likely retailers are to report crime.
"When we are doing our best job both figures are going to go up."
The four pillars of the policy will be 'safer communities', 'safer victims', 'sound leadership' and 'sound money management'.
A draft plan will be brought to the police fire and crime panel, tasked with holding the commissioner to account, in December 2024.