Author: Sandra

As the sun shines on Suffolk, Police and Crime Commissioner Tim Passmore is proud to launch the Safer Streets Summer Campaign — an ambitious, united effort to make our town centres safer and more welcoming.

Part of a national campaign, Suffolk Constabulary along with local authorities, local partners and community organisations will be carrying out activity to help prevent and address antisocial behaviour (ASB), retail crime and street crime in our communities.

The Safer Streets Summer Initiative is being led by Police and Crime Commissioners and Chief Constables, supported by the Home Office and underpinned by £66m in Hotspot policing funding nationally for this year. The Initiative starts this week, aligned with ASB Awareness week, and runs until the end of September.

Tim Passmore said, “We want town centres to be vibrant, welcoming places where businesses thrive and people feel safe to shop, socialise and live. Sadly, many town centres have experienced rising levels of retail and street crime and antisocial behaviour, which often increases over the summer months, so we are working together to drive down criminality and ASB in town centres.
“Fortunately in Suffolk we start from a good place, crime is falling faster than it is across the country and we are the third safest county – five years ago we were ranked 13th. But in recent years, trust in policing nationally has eroded and that has impacted on us. Through the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, we hope to turn the tide by bringing back visible, community-led policing. I know that by working together as ‘Team Suffolk’ we can create safer, thriving town centres and make a lasting difference to communities.

“By putting more officers on foot, we’re not just preventing crime—we’re building trust, reducing harm, and making our town centres more attractive places to live, work and visit, which I know will be appreciated in our communities.”

Suffolk’s Chief Constable, Rachel Kearton: “The Safer Streets Summer Initiative is a powerful example of how local action will deliver local engagement supporting national priorities. By increasing visible patrols and working closely with our partners and communities, we are not only tackling antisocial behaviour and street crime, but also delivering on the National Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee. This initiative is firmly supported by the legislative framework set out in the proposed Police and Crime Bill, which empowers us to take a proactive, partnership-led approach to public safety. Together, we aim to make Suffolk’s town centres safer, more welcoming places for everyone.”

The Safer Streets Summer Initiative will focus on nine Suffolk towns: Beccles, Bury St Edmunds, Felixstowe, Ipswich – town centre and waterfront, Lowestoft, Newmarket, Stowmarket, Sudbury and Woodbridge.

Tim Passmore launched the campaign in Lowestoft with representatives of Lowestoft Vision and ShopSafe, and local officers, including PCSO Soanes who is jointly funded by Lowestoft Vision and the Constabulary.

Caption: pictured in centre:  Angela Grey from Lowestoft Vision; PCSO, Mike Soanes; Tim Passmore and Martin Greg,  with ShopSafe with local officers and cadets.

 

In national Volunteer Week, Tim Passmore has taken the opportunity to thank everyone who gives their time to support policing in the county.

Independent Custody visitors are members of the local community whose duty it is to visit Police Investigation Centres unannounced to check on the welfare of people who are in police custody. Police and Crime Commissioners have a duty to ensure people in police custody are treated properly. Tim Passmore, Suffolk’s PCC relies on volunteers to help him do this through unannounced visits.  Their task is to observe, comment and report on their findings.  ICVs carried out 102 visits in the past year at Suffolk’s two Police Investigation Centres in Suffolk – one in Bury St Edmunds and one at Martlesham, Ipswich.  If you are interested to find out more, and maybe volunteer, go to: Independent Custody Visitors – Suffolk PCC

Constabulary Volunteers consist of Special Constables, Police Cadets and Police Staff Volunteers. In 2024, 365 of them have undertaken more than 41,500 hours supporting Suffolk Constabulary in a variety of roles.

Mounted PSVs and Local Police Volunteers continue to be the Constabulary’s ‘eyes and ears’ in Suffolk local communities, ensuring their communities see a visual presence and supporting them in linking with their local policing teams, while Special Constables are a uniformed presence supporting response and community policing teams across the county.

Mr Passmore said: “The contribution made by volunteers to policing in Suffolk and making our county a safer place for us to live and work is remarkable. Volunteers play a hugely important part in our policing family and we are indebted to each and every one of them for their unstinting commitment and enthusiasm. Every volunteer offers something significant whether they are Specials, Police Support Volunteers, Cadets or Custody Visitors and I would like to take this opportunity to thank them personally for their support.”

 

Tim Passmore, Suffolk’s Police and Crime Commissioner has announced the successful recipients of the latest wave of the PCC’s Fund grants.
Nine local organisations will share over £150k to fund various projects which contribute to reducing crime and disorder in the county, supporting young people and helping victims and witnesses of crime.
Tim Passmore said, “Commissioning services to support the work of the Constabulary is an important element of my role as Police and Crime Commissioner.
“I am absolutely delighted to be able to support these local organisations in their valuable work. We rely very heavily on the support of voluntary and community organisations and we are indebted to them for their commitment and enthusiasm.
“I truly believe that without the support of organisations such as these ones funded by the PCC’s Fund we would be a much poorer society.”
The successful recipients in this first funding wave of this financial year included Abbeycroft Leisure which received £9,372 to support Teen Chill Brandon, a club for young people aged 11-16. The club’s aim is to reduce antisocial behaviour (ASB) and provide a safe meeting place.
Bungay Town Council received £19,583 to launch a Youth Space project for 11–18 year-olds involved in anti-social behaviour.
Inspire Suffolk received £20,000 to support the Inspire Youth Outreach projects in Ipswich and Lowestoft which includes street outreach and youth work initiatives.
Ipswich Community Media and Learning received £19,200 to engage young offenders and those at risk of offending in creative activities to direct them towards positive behaviours.
Kids Inspire received £19,618 to support the Healing Connections project for children and young people in Ipswich who have experienced adverse childhood experiences.
Murrayside Community Development received £10,000 to expand activities and support for young people who regularly visit the community centre in Nacton Road, Ipswich.
Ormiston Families received £20,000 to allow them to continue the Breaking Barriers project for children and young people affected by parental imprisonment.
Suffolk Mind received £19,982.40 to provide mental health support for female victims of misogyny hate crimes.
Volunteering Matters received £20,000 to support the Suffolk Equip project for young people who are not in education or training, to divert them away from anti-social behaviour and crime.
The total sum for all projects is £157,755.40.
The Grant panel, which considers applications, includes a representative of the PCC’s team, a representative from Suffolk Community Foundation and Chairs of the local Community Safety Partnerships. The Panel is chaired by the PCC who is responsible for final determination of each award.

Recent data is showing Suffolk Constabulary’s new approach to ensure that vulnerable people get the right support from the right agency is continuing to have a positive effect.

The figures demonstrate a reduction in the number of incidents officers are having to attend relating to concerns for welfare, meaning people are being directed to more appropriate support at an earlier stage and a continued increased capacity for officers to focus on crime and anti-social behaviour.

‘Right Care, Right Person’, introduced into the force on 1 October 2023, is a response approach to ensure that when there are concerns for a person’s welfare linked to mental health, medical or social care issues, the right person with the right skills, training and experience will respond at the earliest stage possible.

Suffolk’s Police and Crime Commissioner, Tim Passmore said: “I am pleased to see this very positive feedback on the implementation of the Right Care Right Person initiative in Suffolk.

“The Right Care Right Person initiative does exactly what the name suggests, it ensures that people in need are supported in the right way by the appropriate mental health professional.

“It is absolutely vital that people suffering with mental ill-health are attended to by properly qualified practitioners. Police officers are not such practitioners, but they will of course still respond where there is a risk to life, or a crime is being committed.”

He added, “I’d like to take this opportunity to thank partners for their support, this shared approach has proved very beneficial.”

The care, in many cases, is now being provided by the agency that can best meet the individual’s needs. It’s important to say police will continue to protect the public where the risks presented need a policing attendance.

A phased approach to this initiative from police was taken to provide partners the opportunity to adjust to the working practices. Most recently, the latest phase has seen an agreement in the way patients are transported to mental health care facilities and which is now properly recognised as being the responsibility of partner agencies, rather than being the responsibility of the police.

From October 2023 to the end of September 2024 there had been 14,796 CADs* with a concern for welfare or mental health element to them. That is a 24% decline compared to the corresponding previous 12 months (October 2022 to September 2023) when there were 19,415 CADs.

Out of the 14,796 CADs recorded, Suffolk police attended 6,134 times, compared to attending 10,286 times during Oct 2022 to Sep 2023, so a 12% drop in police dealing with concern for welfare/mental health calls.

It means that the calls the force is receiving are more appropriate for a policing response and also allow police officers to focus on calls and incidents where police involvement is much more relevant and valid.

The background to the introduction of Right Care, Right Person is that in recent years there has been a significant rise in the number of calls for service police receive that are related to mental health. These have often led to the force deploying to situations where it has no legal duty to attend and, probably more importantly, where police officers and staff are not equipped with the skills, knowledge, or training to provide the best and most effective response to a member of the public at their time of need.

The force has seen declining use, year on year, of the Section 136 power under the Mental Health Act. For example, there has been a 39% decline in S136 Mental Health Act detentions since 2019/2020 (2019/2020 – 396 to 2023/2024 – 241).

The force uses a protocol, which includes all agencies involved, when a member of the public appears to be in mental distress and in need of immediate care or control. This is to ensure all agencies are aware of their responsibilities and the individual concerned is at the centre of all decision making. Good working relationships have been built with relevant partners to ensure swift handovers are completed and that the individual is with the correct agency as quickly as possible with the appropriate support in place to avoid them continuing to come to police attention.

ACC Eamonn Bridger said: “As we have always said, keeping people safe in Suffolk is our priority, we remain committed to protecting the most vulnerable in our communities and, where there is an immediate risk to life or a risk of serious harm, we will still attend.

“These figures are encouraging as they continue to demonstrate that the public and our partners are understanding what an appropriate call for police service is.

“When we introduced the policy, the aim was to ensure people were able to reach the right public service at the earliest stage and to reduce unnecessary demands on the frontline. This approach gives our officers increased capacity to deal with more relevant incidents that needed a policing presence such as crime and anti-social behaviour issues.

“The phased approach since October 2023 has also helped our partners with managing the change in processes that they needed to implement. It’s important to say we remain committed to delivering the best possible policing service to our local communities and securing the support of other public sector agencies and other partners where required.”

*Computer Aided Dispatch