Staffordshire Commissioner's Annual Report 2019-20
The Staffordshire Commissioner and his team work with many partners and organisations and this year’s annual report gives a chance to learn what’s happened over the last year, but also more widely since 2013.
Matthew Ellis is coming to the end of his second and final term as Staffordshire Commissioner for Police, Fire and Rescue and Crime, so the annual report gives an overview of the breadth of activity undertaken. It ranges from things like police cadets and the Youth Commission to Space and the recent collaboration work between fire and police.
Commenting on the key achievements touched on in the report, Mr Ellis said:
‘Last year’s report featured the new oversight and governance I’d taken on of Staffordshire’s Fire and Rescue Service in addition to policing. My expectation was for the services to find new opportunities to collaborate and spend public money even more effectively.
‘I’m pleased that one year on, the expectation is becoming a reality. The first combined use building is the fire station in Tamworth. Local policing has moved in and it’s working well. Local policing teams in Hanley will soon join fire colleagues in the excellent fire station there too.
‘So far, more than £1.4million of savings will be available to reinvest back into the frontline operations of both services, with more to come.
‘The Safer, Fairer, United Communities Strategy I set out for the first time in 2013 identified the challenges and issues, which were and are important for Staffordshire people in addition to what policing has to do regionally and nationally.
‘During that time, we have led the way in highlighting nationally the challenges for people suffering mental ill-health ending up, inappropriately, in the criminal justice system. We’ve made inroads into supporting better, people suffering domestic abuse and developed highly specialist support services through the creation of New Era.
‘Our work with victims and young people has been recognised nationally, as has our work with Public Health England on the relationship between substance abuse, vulnerability and ending up deep in the criminal justice system.
‘Public services, working together towards common goals are a powerful force for good. The thousands of people I have met and worked with over the last eight years have been overwhelmingly exceptional. I want to thank them all for the work they have done and for their work in the future.’
