Commissioner's June Update

There has obviously been a big change in that the former Chief Constable Carmel Napier retired earlier this month and I have appointed Deputy Chief Constable Jeff Farrar in a temporary capacity. I am confident that he will provide strong leadership to the Force whilst a permanent replacement is sought. I also welcomed Lorraine Bottomley who has taken over as the Assistant Chief Constable.

I am looking forward to working closely with the Chief Officer team and serving the communities of Gwent. I was really pleased to be invited to attend the Positive Futures Sports Forum Volunteer Awards Ceremony.

I have previously awarded the group £100,000 for their youth intervention programme in Newport; building on my commitment on the importance of youth intervention in improving the lives not only of those youngsters, but also the communities in which they live, so I was delighted to be awarding those young people involved.

I have attended a number of Community Council events and meeting throughout the month - Risca, Llanbradach and Pwll y Pant; Abertillery and Llanhilleth and I also met with Torfaen Councillors - all very positive and constructive meetings and I will continue to meet with them and others and provide feedback on any issues they raise with me.

I was also pleased to meet with the Police and Crime Panel, who oversee and scrutinise the Commissioner role. The Police and Crime Panel is made up of Councillors from the local authorities in the Gwent area, plus two Independent Co-opted Members.

I enjoyed meeting criminal justice partners at the Criminal Justice Cymru Conference at Caerleon College. It was really useful to hear other viewpoints; I spoke to them about cross sector working in the new criminal justice landscape which I hoped they found just as beneficial!

I continue to meet with a number of recipients of the Police Property Fund Act to see how the community are benefitting from the projects which aim to combat crime and anti social behaviour and divert people away from crime. The Fund is raised from the sale of property and cash seized from criminals, as well as the disposal of unclaimed lost property.

I had the second Public Strategy and Performance Board meeting - a meeting where I hold the Chief Constable to account . We are still encouraging the public to submit their questions and attend- questions can be submitted at least seven days beforehand.

If you wish to contact me for any reason, or if you have any comments or suggestions about policing in the Gwent area you can e-mail me: commissioner@gwent.pnn.police.uk, telephone me 01633 642200, fax me 01633 643095 or write to me at the address below:

Ian Johnston,
Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner,
Police Headquarters,
Croesyceiliog,
Cwmbran,
Gwent NP44 2XJ.

You can also follow my office on Twitter @gwentpcc which provides day to day updates of my work on your behalf, or Facebook.