David Sidwick Dorset Police and Crime Commissioner wants to see local businesses thrive

Long before I chose to have anything to do policing, my background was firmly in the business world.

After early jobs in retail, hospitality and sales and following university I joined the pharmaceutical industry as a representative for ParkeDavis, eventually working my way up to join the company’s UK Management Board.

I later set up my own business which facilitated the education of more than 17,500 secondary care consultants, so like many entrepreneurs I have sat in a small room with nothing but a dream of building something.

So, I understand the concerns and issues affecting businesses large and small.

When I campaigned to be Dorset’s Police and Crime Commissioner, I listened carefully to the views of our county’s business community. This included conducting what I believe was the first specific business crime survey to understand concerns, as well as talking to companies face to face.

Now I have taken up office, I am absolutely committed to working with businesses as I endeavour to make Dorset the safest county in the UK.

But before I talk more about my plans, it might be helpful to give a brief summary of what I do.

The role of PCC has been around since 2012 but still is not well understood.

So very briefly, one of the PCC’s roles is to work closely with local organisations – which of course includes businesses – to prevent and tackle crime and promote community safety, and to make sure the views of local people are taken into consideration.

A PCC sets the policing budget, which includes setting the policing element of the council tax – the precept. The commissioner also appoints new Chief Constables, which is something I’ll be focussing on over the next few months as I ensure the best possible candidate is appointed to replace James Vaughan following the great contribution he’s made to policing in Dorset.

But the PCC represents the people above all else and so I will be consulting with the public and producing a Police and Crime Plan outlining local priorities for the Force.

This is something I started work on as soon as I began my term of office and people can look out for more information about how I’ll be asking them for their views later this summer.

Clearly, there are a lot of details yet to be revealed, but rest assured the needs of the business community will be addressed by this plan.

I want to robustly focus on cutting crime and increase visible community policing in Dorset. We need to fight organised crime, particularly the county lines drugs gangs who have brought violence into some of our towns, as well as tackle hidden problems such as domestic abuse, child abuse, hate crime, modern slavery and cyber crime.

None of this work can be done in isolation and businesses, whether large or small, are part of the lifeblood of our county and the centre of our communities, so this is something we need to tackle together.

I want to develop local issues for local problems. What works in Sherborne may well not be the same as what works in the centre of Poole, so I want local businesses to form part of the decision-making process about how we make our communities safer.

I’d like to see the network of Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) expanded, as these do an excellent job of encouraging muchneeded investment into our towns as well as funding schemes to cut anti-social behaviour. I’d also like to see more Shop Watch schemes helping protect against shoplifting and other crimes. I would like reporting made easier and a closer connection with the police so we can address these issues.

CCTV has transformed the way that police and other partners are able to manage incidents in real time, as well as investigate crimes and bring those responsible to justice, so I will investigate opportunities for using this technology more effectively to protect our retail businesses.

And most importantly I want to seek ever greater support for victims, which of course includes victims of business crime, because ultimately it is for these people that we need to bring about change.

This has been an incredibly tough year for us all, and I want to see businesses in our county thrive as we emerge from the pandemic.

Protecting them against crime is an essential part of how we can do that, and I look forward to working with you over the next few years to make these ambitions a reality.

I want to develop local issues for local problems. What works in Sherborne may well not be the same as what works in the centre of Poole