Voice of the Police and Crime Commissioner
Kent Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Scott on reducing Medway's crime rate and his Annual Policing Survey
Editor’s note: We’ve been publishing quarterly columns from the Leader of Medway Council and the Leader of the Opposition for a while. While we’ll continue to have periodic columns from Cllr Maple and Cllr Perfect, we are also now publishing columns from Medway’s new MPs and Kent Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Scott.
Each month, we’ll have writing from one of them so you can hear directly from your representatives about their work. Today, we welcome Kent Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Scott, who was re-elected for a third term in May. He tells us about efforts to reduce Medway’s crime rate and how you can help him write his new Police and Crime Plan for Kent.
Voice of the Police and Crime Commissioner
by Matthew Scott
My Annual Policing Survey is your chance to directly influence Kent Police’s priorities. I would be grateful if you could take a few minutes to let me know what officers and staff should be focused on.
Once I have gathered your views, I will write my new Police and Crime Plan for Kent and Medway, to start in April. This Plan is a statutory requirement that sets out what issues residents and businesses want addressed, and I will hold the Chief Constable to account on your behalf for delivering them.
I have three simple missions for my term as your PCC. Cut crime, support victims and build trust. Everything that my team and I will do will focus on delivering this.
I am pleased to report over the last twelve months, Kent Police and I have been supporting Medway with extra policing resources. This is a long list of activities, and I hope it shows how much effort is being put into making your neighbourhood safer.
Our new neighbourhood policing model has put beat PCs in every ward. New teams of PCs and PCSOs are supporting our schools. PCSOs have joined our expanded rural policing team for the first time. And we have maintained our successful Medway Taskforce to tackle trends with crime and antisocial behaviour.
Medway is benefiting from specific police operations to increase visibility and bring offenders to justice. Extra patrols are taking place in antisocial behaviour hotspots in Rochester, Chatham and Gillingham. I have been working with the roads policing unit to conduct more proactive patrols. I secured funding from the government to run another Safer Streets project in Chatham. And my Violence Reduction Unit is working with schools and sports clubs to tackle violent crime.
We have seen some positive results. Recorded crime in Medway continues to fall – there’s been an 8.6% drop in victim-based crime in the last year alone. More crimes are being solved, and offenders brought to justice. Thanks to Kent Police’s proactive work on stop and search, more weapons and drugs have been seized, and as a result, we have seen a drop in knife crime.
Policing isn’t without its challenges. Officers and staff are working hard every day to serve the public. But there are issues that need to be addressed. Too many cases come to them from mental health and local government services, which prevent them from being able to do even more for the community. Following some high-profile scandals, the Force needs to continue to build trust with the neighbourhoods that it serves.
I am optimistic for the future – I believe that by working together, we can cut crime, support victims and build trust.
Please complete my Annual Policing Survey so that I understand what it is you need from your local Police.
Matthew Scott is the Police and Crime Commissioner for Kent.
Is that an 8.6% drop in actual victim based crime or an 8.6% drop in people bothering to report they have been victims of crime?