Hello

Last week I joined the Chief Constable to celebrate our Volunteer Police Cadets at their Annual Awards Ceremony.

Volunteer Police Cadets (VPC) from across the county gathered at The South of England Showground with their families and loved ones to highlight the fantastic work undertaken over the previous year.

It is testament to the VPC Leaders that our Cadets carried out over 14,000 hours of engagement across the county last year - this comes in the form of community engagement events, aiding Sussex Police with knife sweeps, test purchasing and supporting their local area.

This year, we welcomed Hastings Volunteer Police Cadets to the awards evening -  they are Sussex's newest cohort of VPCs who have been active for just over a month.

Two cohorts of Cadets gave presentations on important topics. Adur and Worthing Cadets chose road safety focusing on the ‘fatal five’ issues that cause the most harm on our roads and Wealden Cadets presented their award-winning violence against women and girls project which was created by their group.

I would like to congratulate all Cadets who received awards on the evening. It is always pleasing to see their focus, determination and unswerving commitment to their communities and each other.

If you know any young person interested in becoming a Volunteer Police Cadet, you can find out more and how to sign up on the Sussex Police website. 

My upcoming Performance & Accountability Meeting

On Wednesday 23 April at 1pm, I will be holding my monthly Performance & Accountability Meeting with the Chief Constable and members of her senior policing team.

Many of the topics on the agenda derive from what residents tell me they want to know more about. On this month's agenda we will be discussing: call handling times and digital contact; crime investigations; the police race action plan; and an update on DBS checks and vetting.

For each agenda point, I ask Sussex Police for information on their current situation and statistics as well as detailed questions on their plans for any improvements and how they are supporting residents of our county.

You can tune in live via my PAM website or watch it back later.

I hope you all enjoy a fabulous Bank Holiday weekend and let's hope the sunny weather continues so we can all enjoy the beautiful towns, villages, coastline and countryside that Sussex has to offer.

Katy Bourne OBE
Sussex Police & Crime Commissioner