Well January ended on a high with the welcome Government announcement of an extra £100m funding for neighbourhood policing nationwide.

At long last we have a Government in power that’s backing up its words to cut crime with the cash needed to help do it. This is a great financial boost for neighbourhood policing – one that will help deliver my new Police and Crime Plan for safer streets and stronger communities across Northumbria and I look forward to sharing this with you later this month.

We await further detail from the Home Office, and I look forward to working with the Chief Constable to determine what this translates to operationally in terms of boots on the ground and investigative work behind the scenes. All in all, its good news and will help officers deter, prevent and respond to crime in our area - growing people’s confidence and overall feelings of safety.

Any additional resource we can get our hands on is welcome, but it doesn’t change our commitment to working hard to balance the books to ensure our police force is both efficient and effective, offering good value for money for Northumbria’s residents.

Yours, Susan

SHINING A LIGHT ON OUR FIGHT AGAINST RURAL CRIME

It was a pleasure to welcome Daniel Zeichner, Minister of State for Food Security and Rural Affairs, to Northumberland last week to showcase the outstanding partnership work we have I place to tackle rural crime.

We discussed the important role of our volunteers (Special Constables, Rural Crime Volunteers & Mountain Rescue), as well as the impact of NPARC (Northumberland Partnership Against Rural Crime) - a national first to be funded through the Safer Streets project.

More about his visit here.
DANGEROUS BEHAVIOUR AND DISORDER DOWN IN PROJECT SHIELD HOTSPOT AREAS

December saw a 36% fall in ASB, and a decrease of 26% in serious violence across the hotspot areas thanks to high visibility and targeted activity.

The work, which is delivered by Northumbria Police, British Transport Police, our 6 local authorities and transport partners, saw 16 arrests, 3 seized weapons, and 25 stop and searches carried out in December alone.

Read more here.
CAUGHT BY CAPIO

The other week, I joined Northumbria Police in Gateshead as it rolled out its biggest Op Capio (motorbike disorder) day of action, yet!


Motorbike disorder is a concern raised time and time again when I am out in communities talking to residents, so I hope this proactive action shows we are listening and delivering on your local priorities.

With officers from a range of teams and departments joining, it was a show of force against those who continue to ride illegally and bring risk & misery to our neighbourhoods. The operation saw 7 Vehicles seized, 2 arrests made and 4 summons – great results to see in action.

Watch some of the action here.
COMMUNITY COHESION CONFERENCE

A highlight for me this month was having over 160 people from across 45 organisations attend Northumbria Police’s community cohesion conference in Newcastle.  The room was made up of so many passionate people from across the force area talking about the challenges that some groups face on a daily basis, as well as the work that’s happening to deliver safer streets and stronger communities for everyone – and this work won’t stop.

More about the inspiring event here.
A MUST-SEE

Such a packed theatre for the premiere of ‘Our Sam’ at the weekend – full of family, friends, and supporters of all the incredible work Samantha’s Legacy do - they certainly did ‘their Sam’ proud and continue to do a great job of raising awareness of the dangers and consequences of carrying a knife.

Find out more about their work here.
THERE WHEN YOU NEED THEM

A huge well done to Northumbria Police who over Christmas Day & New Years Eve achieved an answer time of just 2-3 seconds for all 999 calls....of which there was almost 2,000.

Brilliant work from all involved.