Hello

For the past two years, a dedicated team in my office has worked to embed Immediate Justice (IJ) across Sussex. The innovative IJ programme has been designed to reduce incidents of anti-social behaviour by giving offenders the opportunity to repair damage and ‘put something back’. It also gives local people reassurance that the police take vandalism, graffiti and criminal damage seriously.

I’m delighted that Sussex is one of the best performing of the ten IJ pilot areas (funded by the previous Government) with 437 referrals to date and many meaningful reparative activities successfully delivered across our county.

Most of our IJ referrals are for youths aged 11-17. However, we have seen over 70 adults also come through the programme. Typical offences are assaults, criminal damage and vandalism, theft from shops, drug possession and public order offences.

By the end of 2024, my IJ Taskforce had dealt with over 416 referrals with incredibly high compliance rates for undertaking reparative activities. We've seen over 700 hours of reparative activity take place in our county and our compliance rate sits at over 80%, which is incredibly high compared to other areas. This means that offenders have not only undergone physical tasks to repair damage but have done so willingly – plus its given our team the opportunity to teach each individual about the impact their offending has had on others.

My annual Safer In Sussex survey showed that, for residents, anti-social behaviour was their top concern and respondents were calling for effective initiatives to tackle it. So, with the new Government’s disappointing announcement that it will not continue funding Immediate Justice, I have decided to allocate monies to ensure we can keep it going in Sussex for a further six months in the hope that there may be further funding streams for new ‘initiatives’ made available at a later date.

I am pleased to be able to continue supporting our innovative programme which is successfully delivering on what local residents have told me matters to them. You can read more about how Immediate Justice is restoring community confidence on my website.

Performance and Accountability

Yesterday, I hosted my first Performance and Accountability Meeting (PAM) of 2025 which, in the future, will be held and webcast on a Thursday rather than a Friday each month.

I scrutinised how Sussex Police have sought to maintain police officer, staff and PCSO numbers during 2024/25 and I asked for a forecast of the total number by the end of this financial year. I received assurances that by the end of March Sussex Police will have over 3,200 officers working in Sussex.

I also asked Chief Constable Shiner what was being done to reduce vacancies and what further improvements have been delivered as part of last year’s precept investment into operational capacity, visibility and accessibility?

With the Government’s expectations that all police forces in England and Wales should deliver hundreds of millions of pounds in efficiency savings by 2029/30, we discussed budgeted costs for the coming year and the savings requirement for the force. This will help to shape my end-of-month decision regarding the police precept - the amount you pay in your local taxes for policing.

An important topic that will remain on my PAM agendas for the foreseeable future is ‘Disclosure and Barring Service’ (DBS) checks.

I share the frustrations of Sussex residents facing unacceptable lengthy delays when undergoing DBS checks. I now look at the performance each week with the Chief Constable and I have this as a standing item on our monthly PAMs so that everyone can see my focus on how the force is making changes to processes, deploying more resources and using technology to reduce the backlog. You can watch the PAM on our archive to hear the Chief Constable’s response.

Katy Bourne OBE
Sussex Police & Crime Commissioner