Commissioner publishes new police and crime plan for South Yorkshire Police

South Yorkshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner has published a new police and crime plan for the year ahead.
Dr Alan BillingsDr Alan Billings
Dr Alan Billings

Dr Alan Billings said the plan is a ‘key document’ that sets out South Yorkshire Police’s main priorities for the year ahead.

Dr Alan BillingsDr Alan Billings
Dr Alan Billings
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He said the force’s three main priorities – protecting vulnerable people, tackling crime and anti-social behaviour and treating people fairly – remain unchanged

Dr Billings said: “These priorities reflect what the people of South Yorkshire have told me they expect from their police force in order to keep us safe.

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“People are vulnerable in many ways and not all of them are matters of crime. Mental health is becoming an increasing issue for the police and other partner agencies. Officers regularly come in to contact with distressed members of the public who need their help.

“Missing people take up a great deal of time for police officers – children go missing from the many children’s homes in South Yorkshire and people suffering from advanced forms of dementia can get lost. We need the police to bring them safely back to their homes. This takes up huge amounts of police time, but they are not crimes.

“The rise in serious and violent crime is a national issue and South Yorkshire Police are making good progress in disrupting organised crime groups and engaging with young people around the dangers of carrying knives and becoming involved in gangs.

“But crime is also changing as we become an increasingly digital world. Tackling crime is not just about police officers on the streets – though we are increasing those numbers. We also need specialist civilian staff as well as officers to investigate cyber-crime and fraud and on- line child sexual abuse.”