Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Ellis spoke of ongoing work to make policing more visible and transparent at a special event in South Staffordshire today (Friday 29 November 2013).
Mr Ellis was the keynote speaker at the annual Parish Summit at South Staffordshire District Council’s offices in Codsall.
Updating them on his first 12 months in office, the Commissioner talked to parish councillors from across the area and fielded questions about a range of police and community safety related topics.
He said: “Over the last year what we have been doing is setting down the foundations for real change.
“As we look to make significant savings by doing things differently, my ambition going forward is to maintain neighbourhood police officer numbers and free up thousands of hours of police time through vast improvements in technology.”
Talking about the event, Mr Ellis added: “There were many great questions and some good debate too. It was also really good to see officers who police South Staffordshire there as well and hear about their commitment to working more closely with parish councils.”
After hearing from the PCC and new South Staffordshire Local Policing Team Commander Geoff Knight, councillors took part in workshops on subjects including rural crime, anti-social behaviour, tackling the fear of crime and mental health.
Mr Ellis said that research he’d commissioned showed officers spend around 20 per cent of their time dealing with people with mental health issues.
A Community Triage pilot scheme was launched in North Staffordshire this week, funded by the PCC, as part of ongoing work by Staffordshire Police and North Staffordshire NHS to stop criminalising people who are mentally ill.
