As Chair of the Hampshire Police and Crime Panel, I would like to take this opportunity to provide your readers with an update on the Panel’s work, to scrutinise the Police and Crime Commissioner’s commitment to Police Officer recruitment. This was key to the Panel supporting the Commissioner’s proposed increase in Council Tax back in January.

At our Panel’s latest meeting, on 5 July 2019, we were pleased to learn that recruitment is underway of 210 new officers and 65 police investigators, with 16 officers already in post. This is a positive step forward in helping to meet the current and evolving challenges facing policing across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.

Monitoring the work of the Commissioner in this way is the fundamental role of the Hampshire Police and Crime Panel. As such, I’m delighted to have been re-elected as Chairman of the Panel for an eighth consecutive year, working alongside Jan Warwick as Vice Chair – to continue to support this important commitment to keep Hampshire and the Isle of Wight communities safe and secure.

As part of our work over the coming year, we will once again be encouraging residents to work with us on key topics for ongoing scrutiny, in relation to issues that matter the most to neighbourhoods across the region, as well as the core elements of the Commissioner’s Police and Crime Plan. We look forward to this important collaboration and its positive impact on the communities in which we live.

On behalf of the Panel, I would like to extend our ongoing thanks for your readers’ continued support.

You can share your views with the Panel through the Hampshire Police & Crime Panel website.

Councillor David Stewart
Chairman of Hampshire Police and Crime Panel