Neighbourhood policing and residential burglary on the agenda for PCC’s accountability meeting with Chief

Hertfordshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner Jonathan Ash-Edwards is to ask about extra neighbourhood police officers and burglary in his next public holding to account meeting with the Chief Constable.

The Commissioner will inquire how £3m of Government funding is going to be used to increase the number of officers in local policing roles. He will also look at when this uplift will happen and the impact it is expected to have on the Constabulary’s work in communities.

Questions will also be asked of the Chief Constable about how successfully the Constabulary tackled residential burglary over the winter months, and what progress has been made to reduce it across the county.

Also on the agenda is an update on firearms licencing and actions taken to stop hare coursing. The final item on the agenda is a progress update on how the Constabulary is addressing crime date integrity and force management, which were highlighted as Areas for Improvement in last year’s PEEL inspection.

The meeting will be streamed live for anyone to join at 10.30am on Tuesday April 1st and it can be watched by using this link bit.ly/APMApril2025.

These webinars were introduced by Mr Ash-Edwards shortly after he took office last year. They allow him to scrutinise and hold the Chief Constable to account for the performance of Hertfordshire Constabulary in an open and transparent way.

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

“Hertfordshire residents want to see visible, proactive local policing and growing neighbourhood policing is a priority for my Police & Crime Plan. I’ll be discussing with the Chief Constable how Hertfordshire will utilise additional funding secured from Government to put more officers into neighbourhood roles.

“Residential burglary is comparably low in Hertfordshire, but it is a highly intrusive crime impacting people’s right to be safe in their own homes. I’ll be asking how the Constabulary addressed burglary during the peak winter period and what more can be done to prevent this crime.

“Recently I took part in a series of barn meetings with farmers and members of our rural communities. Firearms licensing timescales and cross-border hare coursing were brought up several times by members of the public so I want to hear what progress is being made on these issues”.

The Accountability and Performance Meetings take place at Police Headquarters in Welwyn Garden City. A recording will also be available to view on the PCC’s website along with more details and previous recordings at hertscommissioner.org/apm.

Police & Crime Commissioners have a statutory duty under the Police Reform & Social Responsibility Act to hold the Chief Constable to account for the delivery of policing in their area.