Herts PCC marks progress in first year in office to make Hertfordshire safer

One year on from his election, Hertfordshire Police and Crime Commissioner Jonathan Ash-Edwards has marked the progress to make Hertfordshire safer.

Since his election in May 2024 Mr Ash-Edwards has published his police and crime plan and launched several new initiatives aimed to reduce crime and make the public feel more secure.

They include securing Home Office funding to launch Operation Hotspot to put more high visibility police patrols into crime and anti-social behaviour hotspots in town centres. Hertfordshire is also on course to have a new record high number of police officers after his first budget earlier this year.

Among the other achievements of the past year are the appointment of a new Chief Constable and the introduction of monthly public Accountability and Performance Meetings to transparently question the Chief on policing activities, priorities and performance.

He has also been appointed the national lead for PCCs on prevention and children and young people.

 Jonathan Ash-Edwards, Police and Crime Commissioner for Hertfordshire, said:

“It is a huge privilege to represent the 1.2m people who call Hertfordshire home as Police & Crime Commissioner. We’ve got a lot done over the last 12 months and I am working tirelessly to help make Hertfordshire safer.

“Police visibility and connection with communities is being strengthened, with more hotspot patrols, larger neighbourhood policing teams and, from later this year, named officers for every community.

“And I’m working on projects to tackle rural crime by funding a property marking scheme for farm equipment, increasing partnership working with retailers to address shop theft and funding behaviour change programmes for domestic abuse perpetrators.

“Crime and anti-social behaviour should not be accepted as inevitable. We can and must prevent, reduce and solve more of it. That’s the clear direction I am setting out in the new Police & Crime Plan.

“Working closely with the new Chief Constable, good progress is being made on the issues identified in last year’s police inspection report and our shared objective to improve crime recording, get more crime solved and increase the police’s use of powers to keep vulnerable people safe. I’m grateful for the hard work being done by our police officers and staff every day to fight crime and keep people safe.

“There’s a huge amount more to be done, but we have laid solid foundations this year and I’ll be relentless in driving further improvements to ensure Hertfordshire continues to be a safe place to live and work”.

The highlights of the past year include:

• Overseen significant progress by the Constabulary to prevent domestic abuse by doubling their use of Clare’s Law to disclose partners with violent histories
• Launched a Community Safety Fund to fund local projects to tackle ASB, violence against women and girls and improve young peoples safety
• Awarded over £700,000 in government funding to Beacon to run victim care services available to every victim of crime in the county
• Delivered over £1.2m of Safer Streets funding in Stevenage, Hatfield and other areas in Hertfordshire to reduce crime and improve safety. 
• Secured Government funding to transfer 35 police officers into neighbourhood policing teams and recruit an additional 20 PCSOs.
• Launched a Retail Crime Forum to bring retailers and police together to tackle shoplifting and retail crime.
• Funded new noise-activated cameras to tackle illegal car meets and anti-social driving
• Launched a new DNA marking scheme to reduce theft of farm machinery and property in rural communities.  
• Busted the myth that police won’t investigate shoplifting worth less than £200.
• Paid thousands of pounds for fly tips to be removed from private land under the PCC Flytipping Scheme.
• Broke ground on the building of a new Police HQ to improve the policing service across the county.
• The past year has seen residential burglary drop by 4% and police attending 99% of reported break-ins.

Future plans for the coming months include the official launch of the Commissioner’s new Police and Crime Plan - Fighting Crime, Making Hertfordshire Safer; plus major projects to address shop and retail crime and to keep town centres safe this summer.