West Yorkshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner two years on (22 Nov 2014) (1)

Helping victims of crime, tackling human trafficking and making more proceeds of crime funding available to our communities show the progress made by West Yorkshire's Police and Crime Commissioner two years on.

Protecting frontline policing, tackling Child Sex Exploitation, providing increased resources to prevent domestic abuse and reducing burglary across the county are just some of the key achievements of West Yorkshire's Police and Crime Commissioner Mark Burns-Williamson, elected two years ago.

Since being elected Mark Burns-Williamson has been delivering on the outcomes, priorities and commitments as set out in West Yorkshire's Police and Crime Plan 2013-18 providing strategic direction for policing and community safety that Mark produced after extensive consultation with partners and engagement with communities from across the county.

Mark continues to work with the public and colleagues in communities to prevent crime, reduce crime, reoffending and antisocial behaviour, provide more support to victims and witnesses, tackle local, regional and national risks and harm, make sure the criminal justice system is more effective and efficient and that police and partners have more resources.

His progress to date also includes launching a ground breaking website www.helpforvictims.co.uk solely dedicated to helping victims and witness of crime, ploughing more than half a million pounds into community organisations with the Safer Communities Fund from the proceeds of crime and creating a West Yorkshire Anti Trafficking Network with the charity Hope for Justice.

Over the past two years, up to June 2014, Mark has visited more than 270 community groups and organisations, receives around 100 pieces of casework monthly from members of the public, through the Listening to You First consultations and Public Satisfaction surveys has heard about what matters from 34,094 people and has provided a voice to the people of West Yorkshire.

Mr Burns-Williamson said: "As PCC for West Yorkshire I reflect back on the last two years in post and feel proud of what the OPCC and West Yorkshire Police, working with many other partners, have been able to deliver in such a short space of time, working together increasingly makes a real difference to the lives of people in our communities.

"Tackling child sexual exploitation, working to get more Proceeds of Crime money back into the community, leading the way on identifying and tackling human trafficking and protecting Neighbourhood Policing Teams (NPTs) are all part of the work I am committed to doing to ensure communities in West Yorkshire are safer and feel safer.

"I have recently launched the Help for Victims website providing information and advice to victims and witnesses, with council leaders protected the level of PCSOs for two years and last month launched a Hate Crime campaign to raise awareness and encourage people who have been victims of hate crime to come forward and report it.

"It's important for me to continue to engage meaningfully with people living and working across the county and understand their priorities. Following on from my Listening to You First consultations, I have now started my Community Conversation to find out more about people's concerns for policing and community safety and what matters to them and have some honest conversations about what the future holds for policing and community safety.

"The last two years have certainly not been without their challenges and with severe and sustained Government cuts to the public sector, the policing budget has been slashed by almost 30 per cent. This puts a significant strain on already challenged public services, so it is crucial we continue to work better together to keep our communities safer."