On Thursday, May 2 there is an election for the Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner. Rye News has asked all four candidates for their thoughts on policing in Rye.
Katy Bourne – Conservative
As your PCC, I’ve delivered what residents asked for.
We now have more police officers than we’ve had in over a decade which is why neighbourhood crime is down 23%, burglary down 33% and 21% more serious crimes were solved last year.
We’re now a top performing force for answering 999 and 101 calls – local residents told me to fix this and I did.
Shoplifting matters so I established a dedicated Business Crime Unit with solved rates up to 69.9%. I’ve piloted quicker reporting in local Co-Op stores, with more prolific shoplifters taken off our streets than ever before and introduced DISC with 5,000 businesses now reporting crime and sharing information quickly with police. Â
I’ve also directed £ millions to support victims of crime, keep women and girls safe in our public spaces and divert young people from harm.
One of my key priorities remains the relentless pursuit of drug gangs. Last year, Sussex Police disrupted 585 drug gangs and county lines. Illegal drugs cause misery to those that become addicted to them and to the wider community. I will ensure that resources fund our Specialist Enforcement Units, Roads Policing, Tactical Firearms Unit and Neighbourhood Policing Teams so that we continue to take down these dangerous gangs.
I successfully introduced REBOOT, a scheme for troublesome teenagers, which last year delivered a 72% reduction in young people re-offending. I’ve also set up Immediate Justice, a pilot programme working with people who are committing antisocial behaviour.  The pilot sees offenders paying back to the community, through unpaid work, in order to repair the harm and damage they’ve caused and it’s proving very popular with residents who can see the results.
As PCC, I’ve already invested in our Roads Policing Unit because I recognise the impact that antisocial driving has. If re-elected, I’ll set up a ‘Fatal Five Roads Unit’ specifically to tackle anti-social driving, speeding and save lives because this is what people are asking for. I also want the Sussex Safer Roads Partnership to be more ambitious and adopt a Vision Zero approach – to cut fatal and serious collisions by half by 2035 and I’ll continue investing in Operation Crackdown and Community SpeedWatch schemes covering Rye and surrounding villages.
I want to keep cutting crime, catching criminals and making police officers more visible. Let’s not put this at risk – vote Katy Bourne on May 2.
VOTING INFORMATION
You can find your polling station here: https://www.rother.gov.uk/findmynearest
You will need proof of ID to vote in person, the official Electoral Commission guidance is here:
https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/voting-and-elections/voter-id
Image Credits: Katy Bourne .
I noticed in the “Hastings and Rye Future” newspaper released by the Conservatives to promote Katy Bourne in the forthcoming PCC election (it also of course promoted Sally Ann-Hart) a single mention of Rye in the form of a tiny photograph in the corner of page 2 showing Sally-Ann Hart meeting Rye Heritage Centre to “discuss their visitor challenges” – rather an obscure reference, I thought, to policing issues with which the flyer mostly dealt. Yet another sign of Rye’s “Cinderella” status. Come on, Tories, you can do better than this. The clue is in the name of the constituency “Hastings and RYE”.