As Police and Crime Commissioner, I am committed to ensuring that all of Surrey’s communities are safeguarded from harm, exploitation, and the devastating impacts of crime.
However, I recognise that some individuals and groups are at greater risk due to their specific circumstances or vulnerabilities.
Vulnerability can take many forms, affecting individuals across all ages and situations.
Whether it is supporting victims of abuse, protecting children and young people from exploitation, ensuring the right response for those in mental health crisis, or tackling fraud and cybercrime, our approach is rooted in compassion, collaboration, and prevention.
Children and young people:
Surrey Police will…
- Continue to embed the Child Centred Policing Strategy by recognising children’s vulnerabilities, amplifying their voices through words and actions, and using every interaction to build trust, understand their needs, and enhance their safety.
- Strengthen compliance with information sharing initiatives such as Operation Encompass to provide consistent support and enhanced safeguarding for pupils affected by domestic abuse and serious crime. Operation Encompass notifies a school’s Designated Safeguarding Lead before the next school day if police attend a domestic abuse incident involving a child, ensuring timely support.
- Review the impact of abstractions on Youth Engagement Officers (YEOs) to ensure they can maintain consistent engagement with young people and uphold the trust essential to their role.
- Improve data integrity around knife crime and violent crime to enhance the understanding of key individuals and locations involved. Strengthen data collection, analysis, and sharing practices to support targeted interventions and informed decision-making.
My office will…
- Continue to support initiatives and services focused on engaging with young people, ensuring their voices are heard and utilised to help shape policing in Surrey.
- Work with local partners to develop a targeted knife crime intervention, focusing on prevention, support for at-risk individuals, and enforcement in high-risk areas to reduce incidents and ensure continued and long-term community safety.
- Strengthen early intervention pathways for over-represented youth groups in the criminal justice system. Focus on targeted support, diversion programs, and collaborative efforts with community organisations to address underlying causes and reduce disproportionality.
- Continue to work with partners and groups, such as the Surrey Civilian Military Partnership Board, to ensure children and young people from unique backgrounds such as armed forces families receive the support they need to live safe and healthy lives.
Together we will…
- Collaborate with partners through the new multi-agency Adolescent Safeguarding Model to identify themes and trends that increase children’s vulnerability to extra-familial harm, including child criminal exploitation (CCE), child sexual exploitation (CSE), peer-to-peer violence, and radicalisation. Use these insights to inform preventative strategies and improve safeguarding practices.
- Increase efforts to educate young people about online illegality and the consequences of serious crimes, ensuring they understand what constitutes criminal behaviour. Work with schools and community groups to raise awareness and reduce the risk of young people unknowingly engaging in criminal activity.
- Enhance efforts to address online harms by adopting proactive approaches and up-to-date strategies, ensuring the police and partners stay ahead of emerging threats.
Rural communities:
Surrey Police will…
- Maximise the utilisation of new legislation as it emerges, such as the Equipment Theft (Prevention) Act 2023. Ensure provisions such as the mandated identification of machinery are known and used to their full potential to help prevent and solve relevant crimes.
- Explore implementing alternative communication channels, such as WhatsApp groups, to strengthen connections with rural communities and improve engagement.
- Promote greater use of existing reporting tools, such as the Suspicious Activity Portal, to support proactive community safety efforts and close data gaps.
My office will…
- Explore the creation of a rural crime partnership or community forum to strengthen collaboration between rural communities, the police, councils, the Environment Agency, and other stakeholders – drawing on successful models from other counties but creating a model that works best for Surrey.
- Actively monitor government funding opportunities to identify and secure resources that support rural community projects and initiatives.
Together we will…
- Work with partners, including local authorities and wider networks, to address fly-tipping in rural areas, with a focus on tackling its links to organised crime and improving preventative measures.
- Support regional and national collaborative efforts to reduce rural crime, focusing on eliminating it rather than displacing it to other counties.
Older people:
Surrey Police will…
- Continue efforts to safeguard vulnerable individuals, particularly older people, from fraud, online crime and scams. This will involve raising awareness, providing targeted support, and collaborating with local communities, partners, and agencies to prevent financial exploitation and protect those at risk.
My office will…
- Collaborate with the Surrey Safeguarding Adults Board in building a service user group that gathers the voice of lived experience, using it as a feedback mechanism to inform and improve Surrey Police and the OPCC’s approach to safeguarding and service delivery.
Together we will…
- Collaborate with partners to prevent and address elder abuse by raising awareness, improving safeguarding measures, and ensuring victims receive the support and protection they need.
- Ensure the Force and OPCC consider diverse communication needs by using a mix of digital and non-digital formats, prioritising accessibility and inclusivity to effectively engage all communities.
Mental health:
Together we will…
- Continue to implement and oversee the delivery of the Right Care, Right Person model, ensuring adults in distress receive the right support from the most appropriate agency. Police will remain committed to responding to urgent incidents where there is a risk to life or public safety, while working with partners to ensure high standards of care across services.