Neighbourhood Watch

Sussex Police & Crime Commissioner Launches Police & Crime Plan

Following extensive consultation with the public, partnership organisations, police and the Police & Crime Panel, Police & Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne has launched her new Police & Crime Plan for Sussex in line with her statutory duty to set the strategic direction for Sussex Police until 2028.

Within her fourth plan, PCC Katy Bourne has set three priorities (aligned with the Chief Constable’s operational delivery objectives) as follows:

You can watch an informative video about the plan below: 

Watch here: https://youtu.be/GHycKPHpk7Y

Residents of Sussex have played an important role in shaping the plan through PCC Bourne’s engagement programme. Consultation is carried out via: polls; surveys; focus groups; surgeries; public meetings; and forums.  Residents agree that police visibility matters as it improves confidence and they want to hear the results of successful police activity as it helps them to understand what the police are doing in their local area and wider county.

Key concerns of residents are anti-social behaviour, road safety, retail crime and abuse – all of which are addressed in this Police & Crime Plan.

Speaking about the new plan, Police & Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne said:

“Having served as your PCC for almost 13 years, I have always made what residents want and need from Sussex Police my main priority and scrutiny of police performance and accountability have been essential in driving improvements and addressing the public’s concerns.

"I have made sure that the priorities in this new plan are more closely aligned than ever with these concerns.

“I understand why residents feel reassured when they see officers in their communities and high streets tackling antisocial behaviour, addressing road safety and other crimes affecting us all. However, whilst visibility is an essential part of effective policing, many serious offences often go unseen by the public such as sexual assaults, rapes, domestic abuse, fraud and cyber-crime yet these high-harm offences require a lot of dedicated police time and resources to investigate and detect."

Throughout her time as PCC, Katy Bourne has worked hard to improve the policing service in Sussex through regular Performance & Accountability Meetings, including working with Chief Constable Shiner to vastly improve call waiting times and the overall response to 999 and 101 calls.

After significant investment in technology and training, the 101 non-emergency number average wait time is under five minutes and Sussex has been one of the top performing counties for both 999 and 101 call times for the past year. Sussex Police received 664,754 contacts in 2024 including 278,718 emergency calls and residents can now feel assured that, should they need help and assistance, Sussex Police will answer quickly.

Sussex is still one of the safest counties to live in, being the 13th lowest out of 43 forces for risk of crime and, thanks to prudent budgeting, residents also pay the 7th lowest police precept in their council tax bills when compared to other areas across the country.

Helping PCC Katy Bourne and Sussex Police address public priorities is a network of trusted partners including: Community Safety Partnerships; Neighbourhood Watch; Independent Custody Visitors; The Safer Sussex Funding Network; Safer Sussex Business Partnership; Community Speed Watch; volunteer groups and many more – all with the common goal to protect and help local residents.

Across the past 13 years, PCC Bourne has secured £35 million in funding, which has supported 100,000 victims of crime through a network of over 80 high-quality service providers who can all be found on the Safe Space Sussex Directory which was established by PCC Bourne.

The creation of the Sussex Safer Business Partnership in 2020 has certainly improved the police response to business crime in our county with successful outcomes up 68% on the previous year. The One-Touch Reporting scheme with the Co-op is saving their staff large amounts of time in reporting incidents and, the roll-out of reporting app DISC, is making it easier for retailers to contact police and each other and share data and intelligence quickly.

Across the rest of the year, PCC Katy Bourne will be highlighting each priority in more detail across her website and social media channels to provide residents of Sussex with a more robust understanding of the positive work happening across Sussex.

You can read the full Police & Crime Plan on Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne’s website.