1 December 2021
Dear colleague,
Firstly, I would like to thank those of you who provided feedback on the frequency of these letters. Most of the feedback said that you would like to receive a monthly letter to update you on what’s been happening here at the Office – so, here is my first monthly PCC letter to you all.
Coincidentally, it’s been a month since I emailed you about the launch of my Police and Crime Plan and it has certainly been a busy month of progress on that front. This month has seen three national weeks of action: Safer Gambling Week, Alcohol Awareness Week and 16 Days of Action all of which link to the priorities in my plan.
As joint APCC lead for Addictions and Substance Misuse Portfolio, I am pleased to be able to highlight the work I am doing in securing a regional joined-up approach on drug dealing, substance misuse and gambling addiction, so that the entire South West works together to reduce this risk. There are also some quick-time positive actions that can be made to tackle problem gambling. For example, my office is working with Dorset Police Custody and the Criminal Justice Liaison and Diversion service to identify and monitor how many detainees have a gambling addiction – which hasn’t been done before. This will help give some much-needed information about the size of the problem in our county.
My blog addressing the issue of violence against women and girls highlights a lot of the work that is happening behind the scenes, including taking the very practical action of funding the purchase of over 1000 drink spiking testing kits, which will be made available in key locations, including hospitals, police stations and nightclubs across Dorset as well as almost 14,000 ‘stop-tops’ and ‘bottle-top spikes’, to help prevent drinks from being ‘spiked’.
A couple of weeks ago, I held the first Business Crime roundtable alongside Inspector Helen Deakin, the strategic business crime lead for Dorset Police, and we spoke with twenty representatives of national groups and local businesses to start the process of creating a Dorset Safer Business Partnership.
I also held the first Rural Crime roundtable where I got to discuss a range of rural crime issues with the Rural Crime Team, the Environment Agency, local authorities, insurance companies as well the National Farmers Union.
November has also seen me witness a warrant being executed on a shop in Boscombe, where thousands of pounds worth of illegal cigarettes and tobacco were seized together with a large amount of cash and suspected cannabis. It was a great example of partnership working in action; to see police officers working alongside our partner agencies was not only inspiring, but very encouraging when I consider the pledge I have made to make Dorset the Safest County in England and Wales.
Kind regards
David Sidwick
Dorset Police and Crime Commissioner
