Connected Communities, Safer Norfolk
I believe policing works best when it is rooted in the communities it serves. My vision for Norfolk is simple: to reconnect people with the police, rebuild trust, and ensure that every community has a voice in keeping Norfolk safe.
My Priorities
Putting Communities Back at the Heart of Policing
Ensure policing priorities are shaped by communities across Norfolk, not by one individual or one political party.
Strengthen partnership working with the Police and Crime Panel, local councils, community organisations and public services.
Revitalise community safety initiatives and make the Safer Communities Strategy Board more effective.
Reject divisive politics that seek to set communities against one another. Policing in Norfolk must be based on fairness, trust and consent, with every community treated with dignity and respect.
Visible, Local and Accessible Policing
Rebuild neighbourhood policing and explore the return of community-based officers through the introduction of Tri-Service Safety Officers, combining community policing, emergency response and fire prevention.
Increase opportunities for residents to meet and influence their local police through priority-setting meetings and stronger links with councillors and community leaders.
Safer Roads, Towns and Villages
Take a stronger approach to tackling speeding in our market towns and villages.
Focus on harm reduction and road safety measures that protect pedestrians, cyclists and all road users.
Ensure rural crime is given greater attention, recognising its significant impact on farming communities and rural residents.
Apply lessons learned from the successful action taken to tackle shop theft in Norwich to crimes affecting rural communities, ensuring offenders know that crime in our villages and countryside will be taken just as seriously as crime in our towns and cities.
Preventing Violence and Reducing Harm
Establish a Violence Reduction Unit in Norfolk and bring together schools, health services, social care, community groups and charities to tackle the causes of violence.
Measure success not simply by crime figures, but by how effectively we reduce harm and improve people’s sense of safety.
Champion a new approach to drug policy that treats drug misuse primarily as a public health issue rather than solely a criminal justice matter, learning from successful international models that have reduced addiction, deaths and reoffending by investing in treatment, prevention and recovery.
Protecting Local Accountability
Resist the transfer of Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service governance to the Police and Crime Commissioner.
Support democratic accountability through local authorities and oppose changes that could weaken local oversight or lead to further cuts.
A Connected Norfolk
The police cannot tackle crime alone. Safer communities are built when residents, public services and the police work together, know one another, and share responsibility for keeping people safe.
My commitment is to create a Norfolk where policing is local, visible and collaborative—where communities feel heard, where no community is left behind or singled out, and where the police are once again seen as a trusted part of the places they serve.