Putting more police officers back on our streets will be top of the agenda

Residents in County Durham and Darlington will be able to ask questions about police recruitment and deployment at the Durham Police and Crime Commissioner’s (PCC) next accountability meeting later this month.

Accountability meetings – where the PCC holds the Chief Constable and the police force to account for policing in the area – enable the public to ask questions of Durham Constabulary via the PCC. 

At the next meeting on March 17, the chief constable and her senior team will be answering questions from local people about the government’s police uplift programme which was announced in 2019.

The commitment is to provide 20,000 extra officers nationally, with Durham Constabulary’s share of this being an extra 226. Unlike some forces that are boasting record police numbers, Durham will still have 153 less officers than they did in 2010. 

So far there have been three public accountability meetings, the first focused on the proposal for a centralised custody facility, the second featured questions on off-road bikes and the third was around violence against women and girls.

Joy Allen, Durham PCC who assumed her post eight months ago, has created this meeting in the interests of transparency and public accountability. 

“The recorded meetings enable residents to see how the accountability process works,” said commissioner Allen.

“They are now able to see how the PCC holds the force to account in delivering an efficient and effective police service when she scrutinises the performance of the force and ensuring it is responsive to the needs of the residents of County Durham and Darlington.

“Like members of the public, I am keen to see the more police officers on the beat as soon as possible, so it’s important that I scrutinise the recruitment process openly on behalf of our residents.”

Recordings of the previous three accountability meetings are available to the public via YouTube.

The PCC is encouraging anyone with questions around the police uplift programme to submit them via the online form – https://durhampcc.welcomesyourfeedback.net/s/8lyadr before March 9.