Hello

Last week, I joined the brilliant Sussex Search & Rescue Team (SusSAR) in Shoreham at the River Adur, where they held a training day for some of their volunteers.

It was great to see their rescue boat out on the water and to understand how the SONAR (Sound Navigation and Ranging) technology works. The SONAR equipment is vital in rescue and recovery missions, in particular for locating missing people, as it uses sound waves to 'see' in the water.

The boat was funded via our Proceeds Of Crime Act monies - assets recovered from convicted criminals which are then used to fund community projects that combat crime or make Sussex safer.

We were also joined by Robbie Jones whose father tragically drowned after attempting to rescue their family dog in the sea in Hove. Whilst Robbie has faced an unimaginable event in his life, he is courageously using this to develop powerful water safety campaigns to save lives. He has become a remarkable advocate in this area, going into schools and educating children and young people about how to be safe around water. It was a real privilege for us all to meet him.

Here in Sussex, our coastline stretches over 130 miles and our county is filled with nature reserves, rivers, inland waterways and tidal bays. Having the SusSAR boat equipped with SONAR technology means that they are able to search every waterway in the county.

The SusSAR team is made up of dedicated and committed volunteers who assist Sussex Police in a range of recovery searches. They are there to help 365 days a year, 24 hours a day.

If you're interested in joining the team or want to learn more, you can visit: www.sussar.org.uk.

Last week I held my monthly Performance & Accountability Meeting (PAM) with Deputy Chief Constable McLaren and Chief Operating Officer Croxford. The PAM scrutinised plans and performance covering: the Police Officer Maintenance Grant; burglary; the Business Crime Team; planning for unauthorised encampments; updates to DBS checks; and rural crime.

You may remember in a recent newsletter I spoke about the 500+ forensic tool-marking kits, jointly funded by my office and the National Farmers' Union (NFU) which have been provided to Sussex Police's Rural Crime Team? It was good to hear the team have already handed out kits to 22 farmers and assisted them with forensically marking their equipment. I was reassured that the Force aspire to visit every farm in Sussex to offer them the SelectaDNA kits. I look forward to hearing updates of how many more farms have been visited in the coming months.

It is important that police maintain open and regular communication with farmers and our rural communities. In the last meeting that I had with members of the NFU based in West Sussex, they had mentioned their views on reporting crime and how police and farmers can work better together to ensure reporting is effective and efficient, particularly when reporting crimes in isolated areas.

Yesterday, I was delighted to welcome members of the NFU to our Force Command, Control and Contact Centre to meet with Chief Inspector Starns and Rural Crime Team lead, Detective Superintendent Robeson. We discussed how police follow lines of enquiry and how farmers capture and share information and intelligence when crimes are committed on their land.

I was also pleased to learn about further improvements taking place regarding better police engagement with the public and I look forward to sharing more information about this in the near future.

Katy Bourne OBE
Sussex Police & Crime Commissioner