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Last week, Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne and her team hosted an event to celebrate and reflect upon all the work successfully facilitated by monies awarded from the Safer Streets 4 Fund.

The Government launched the first ever Safer Streets Fund in 2020 and, since then, it has invested £125 million nationally via four rounds. With the additional funding now allocated to Round 5, it brings the total that Police & Crime Commissioners (PCCs) and police forces can access to £167million, supporting over 400 projects across England and Wales.

This week marked Anti-Spiking Intensification Week where police forces and partners unite to increase resources to tackle spiking.

Spiking can take on many forms: from unwanted substances added to drinks, vapes or cigarettes; to needle spiking and adding an extra shot of alcohol to a drink without consent.

Sussex Police & Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne and the Force already have robust methods of protecting residents especially those enjoying the night-time economy (NTE) and yesterday (21st March) Home Secretary, James Cleverly MP visited the county to see what is working well here.

The Immediate Justice (IJ) pilot, which is part of the Government’s Action Plan to crack down on anti-social behaviour, continues to gather momentum in Sussex.

So far, more than 111 cases have been referred to the Sussex scheme since its launch in July 2023 and the Sussex Immediate Justice (IJ) taskforce are in the midst of a dedicated month of action across March. Operation Enhance will provide all police shifts across Sussex with an additional Sergeant and two Police Constables to follow live reports and direct suitable cases through to Immediate Justice.

On Friday 15 March, Sussex Police & Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne will hold her monthly Scrutiny meeting with Sussex Police.

To begin the PAM, PCC Bourne will raise the topic of the Police Officer Maintenance Grant, which was introduced by the Home Office last year. The grant is worth £275m and is provided to support police force areas in England and Wales in maintaining police officer numbers during 2023/24.

Sussex Police & Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne has launched a new campaign to encourage victims and witnesses of crime to seek support using her online directory of support services in Sussex.

Safe Space Sussex is a website that provides information about various high quality support services in the county, including what they do, where they are based and how victims and survivors can contact them. The featured services cover a vast range of crime types and aim to support people of all ages from different backgrounds.

Police forces across the South East will be working together to intensify their operations to tackle rural crime this week.

Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire and Isle of Wight, Kent, and Thames Valley police forces have set up the South East Partnership Against Rural Crime (SEPARC) to ensure co-operation to make the region a hostile environment for countryside offenders.

This month’s Performance and Accountability Meeting (PAM) will be held on Friday 16 February.

Attending the meeting will be Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne, OSPCC Chief Executive Mark Streater, Sussex Police Deputy Chief Constable Dave McLaren and Sussex Police Temporary Assistant Chief Constable Howard Hodges.

Today (February 14, 2024) the British Retail Consortium issued their annual crime survey, highlighting the scale of violence and abuse faced by people working in the retail sector.

Responding to the survey and outlining her views on retailers call to Government to introduce a standalone offence of assault to a shop worker, the Sussex PCC shares her opinion below.