Thousands of people have had their say about the new strategy to make communities across Staffordshire safer – with the overwhelming majority backing the plans.
The Safer, Fairer, United Communities strategy was published by Staffordshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Ellis for consultation across the county and the city of Stoke-on-Trent in July and August.
It was the biggest opportunity yet to shape the future of policing and criminal justice services in Staffordshire and make sure taxpayers’ money is spent better on visible policing and a criminal justice system that meets the needs of local people.
In total, 6,384 people gave their views through a variety of means including face to face surveys, public meetings and on-line.
A total of 98 per cent of people agreed that the overall vision was important while 89 per cent agreed with the strategy itself.
The draft strategy’s four priorities – early intervention, supporting victims and witnesses, managing offenders and public confidence – were viewed as important by almost everyone (97 per cent to 99 per cent or respondents).
Responses came from communities throughout the area. Over a third of responses were from Stoke-on-Trent.
Feedback about specific themes will now be incorporated into the final version of the strategy which will be launched shortly.
The high-level over-arching strategy will sit above several detailed delivery plans including an operational delivery plan for Staffordshire Police, locality plans from local councils and partnerships and a commissioning plan.
Mr Ellis said: “We set out to engage with as many people as possible over the last two months.
“Thank you to every person, community group or organisation who gave their feedback which made this consultation one of the most successful in terms of the number of respondents in Staffordshire in recent years.
“The overwhelmingly positive response shows strong support for a whole-system approach where public services work collaboratively to common agreed outcomes that make a difference to local people.
“The appetite for better and more joined up services is clear – people want effective visible policing on our streets and a criminal justice system that meets their individual needs should they require it.
“If nothing changes, services will decline, but things are changing in Staffordshire.
“It’s not NHS, local authority, CPS or police money….it’s all public money. We must scrap silo thinking, work to common goals – spend better, achieve more.
“We have to move away from ‘I’m alright Jack’ organisational silo working which shifts cost from one organisation to another so that the quality of service suffers.
“The system needs to work differently, better and more cost effectively for all of us with local solutions for local people. It needs to fit the people it serves rather than people having to fit the system.”
During the consultation, almost 4,000 people viewed specially-made animated videos about how the strategy will affect the everyday lives of Staffordshire people. Tens of thousands of people were also reached on Twitter and Facebook during the campaign.
For more details about Safer, Fairer, United Communities visit www.staffordshire-pcc.gov.uk
