Annual Report 2023-24

Introduction

Welcome to the Annual Report for 2023/24, which brings to a close my initial three-year term as your Police and Crime Commissioner. It’s been another really important 12 months for our brilliant officers, staff and volunteers with a number of key events and milestones which I believe will shape how we police this county for years to come.

More police officers than ever before

At the time of writing this report, we have just had the Police and Crime Commissioner election across Surrey and I was delighted and honoured to be voted in by Surrey residents for another four years.

I want to use my second term to build on recent improvements in Surrey Police and give my full support to a ‘back to basics’ policing approach in the county.

The Force now has more officers than ever before, and under the leadership of our new Chief Constable Tim De Meyer, they are concentrating on combating those crimes that matter most to the Surrey public.

Chief’s plan

Since joining us in April 2023, Tim has wasted no time in outlining his vision for the Force – known as ‘Our Plan’ – which sets out the approach he wants our policing teams to take.

This means a renewed focus on tackling anti-social behaviour, cracking down on shoplifting gangs, drug dealers and burglars in our communities and taking the most dangerous and persistent offenders off our streets.

Representing the views of our residents on how we police the county is the single most important part of my role as Commissioner.

Over the autumn and winter months, we held a series of ‘Policing Your Community’ events in every borough in the county hosted by Tim, myself and the Borough Commander for each area.

These were both in person and online so there were 22 in total and they were incredibly useful in hearing what our residents thought about policing where they live and what they want to see from their police force.

As well as giving people the chance to ask their questions and tell us about their experiences, it was also an opportunity for the Chief Constable to explain his policing plans.

I think they were really well received and demonstrated that we are heading in the right direction by concentrating on what policing does best – fighting crime and protecting people.

The main thing that I took away from our community events is that more than anything – the public want police to be there for them when they need them.

Record call-answering times

This has been on my mind more than anything in recent months following our inspection report by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) in December.

We knew long before the report was published that there were times last year when residents calling 999 and 101 were not always getting the service they deserved, and this was a situation that urgently needed to be addressed.

So, I was delighted to see that by February this year, the performance data for both 999 and 101 call answering times had not only improved – they were the best on record.

This was not a one-off or a quick fix – we have seen these improvements sustained over the last six months which has been an incredible turnaround.

I know how hard Surrey Police officers and staff have worked to improve the situation and the results have been truly amazing. We must now ensure that performance is maintained.

Another really important milestone reached over the last year is the roll-out of ‘Right Care, Right Person’ in Surrey which I have been very vocal in supporting.

This is a new partnership approach to ensure those suffering a mental health crisis are seen by the best person to support them. In most cases, this will be a medical professional not a police officer.

At the same time, I believe this will reduce the overwhelming demand such incidents place on our already stretched police service, including our contact centre staff.

I think the public would be astonished at the level of demand policing faces from mental health related calls and incidents.

Surrey figures show that fewer than one in five calls is about an actual crime while in August our officers spent more than 700 hours with people in mental health crisis – the highest number of hours ever recorded in a single month.

I truly believe that ‘Right Care, Right Person’ will be transformational for how we police our county and will free up our officers’ time to focus on those issues that matter to our residents.

Bright future

Whilst policing nationally has been through a tough period, I believe Surrey Police is in good hands and can look forward to a bright future ahead. Tim’s plan is ambitious and asks a lot of our police teams, but it is already paying dividends for our residents.

I would like to thank everyone who has been in contact with me and my hard-working team over the last year. I am keen to hear from as many people as possible about their views on policing in Surrey so please do keep getting in touch.

Each month I publish a newsletter for residents which provides key updates on what my office has been doing. If you want to join the growing number of people that are signing up to it – please visit surrey-pcc.gov.uk/newsletter/

My continued thanks go to all those who work for Surrey Police for their efforts and achievements in keeping our communities safe during 2023/24.

I would also like to thank all the volunteers, charities, and organisations we have worked with and my staff in the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for their help over the last year.

Commissioner’s thanks

Those who work in policing are some of the most passionate, dedicated, resilient and hard-working people who genuinely care about the service they provide for the Surrey public.

They don’t often get enough credit for the phenomenal job they do day in, day out to protect the Surrey public.

Surrey is fantastic place to live and one of the safest counties in the country.

I want to keep it that way and I look forward to working with the Chief Constable over the coming year to ensure that tackling those issues that matter most to residents remains at the heart of policing our county.

Lisa Townsend,
Police and Crime Commissioner for Surrey

Contents

• Year-in brief 2023/24
• Priority 1 – preventing violence against women and girls
• Priority 2 – protecting people from harm in Surrey
• Priority 3 – working with Surrey communities so that they feel safe
• Priority 4 – strengthening relationships between Surrey Police and Surrey residents
• Priority 5 – ensuring safer Surrey roads
• Commissioning local services
• Surrey Police overview
• Engagement
• Volunteering
• Strategic Policing Requirement
• Managing resources

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