I ddarllen copi Cymraeg o e-Fwletin y Comisiynydd Heddlu a Throsedd, cliciwch yma.

To read an English version of the Police and Crime Commissioner’s e-bulletin, click here.

‘Victims will be at heart of the organisation’

On Sunday 9 May 2021, it was announced that I had won the Dyfed-Powys PCC election. I am extremely pleased that I have been re-elected, and I’m grateful to the residents of Dyfed-Powys for putting their faith in me

To serve as a Police and Crime Commissioner is a privilege that carries great responsibility, and an honour that I do not take lightly. The public have put their trust in me, and I will repay that trust by ensuring residents have a Force that meets the needs and expectation of our local communities.

Within only a couple of days of the elections results I was pleased to announce that additional funding of £450,000 had been secured by my Office to support organisations that provide support to victims of domestic and sexual abuse in Dyfed-Powys. I will ensure that the safety of our communities and the voice of victims are placed at the heart of this organisation as I look to support the Force to recover from the pressures put upon us in the last year due to the pandemic.

This bulletin includes some of the key activities and highlights since the May election. Please click on the links to read more about each article. I will be publishing a monthly e-bulletin from September onwards. Please feel free to share wider with colleagues and friends.

Thank you very much for your support and I hope you enjoy reading the bulletin. If you have any questions or queries, please send a message to my Office on email and we will gladly assist you.

Diolch - Thank you,

Dafydd Llywelyn

Police and Crime Commissioner

Chief Constable Appointment

Following a robust and transparent recruitment process involving several key stakeholders, I was delighted to be able to announce Dr Richard Lewis as the new Chief Constable for Dyfed-Powys on Friday 30th July 2021, following unanimous support from the Police and Crime Panel.

When I set out on this process, it was important that I recruited a Chief Officer who could bring the vision, determination and resilience required to lead the Constabulary. Richard performed very well throughout the whole assessment process and demonstrated great leadership skills. His vast experience and understanding of policing as well as his knowledge of the Dyfed-Powys area puts him in a good place to support the priorities in my Police and Crime Plan.

As a visionary Chief Constable, Richard will build on the excellent work undertaken by his predecessor, Mark Collins who retired earlier this year, to continuously improve the quality of our service, protecting our communities and meeting public expectations.

He has a fantastic track record of fighting crime and managing community policing and I very much look forward to working with him to keep our communities safe and to develop a Force that serves for today and is fit for the future.

I am very grateful to Claire Parmenter for her support and leadership over recent months in the role as Temporary Chief Constable and I look forward to working with the future Chief Officer Team to ensure that Dyfed Powys Police is the outstanding Force that I am confident that it can be.

Hitting the ground running with the launch of a public consultation on new police and crime plan

As I look forward to developing my Police and Crime Plan for the next three years, it is important for me to understand your views on policing in the area and on the 1st of June I launched a Public Consultation on the plan.

The consultation is now closed, and I am extremely grateful to those of you who engaged with us throughout the process - residents, businesses, community groups, partner organisations and victims of crime, which has ensured that we were able to get as wide a range of views as possible on priorities and concerns that will form the backbone of my Police and Crime plan for 2022 to 2025.

What happens next?

Responses are currently being analysed by my team, and I have already started initial discussions around the priorities with staff. We will have a draft ready by autumn of this year, and we aim to publish by the end of the year.

Policing Minister visits HQ

It was a privilege to host a visit of Policing Minister, Kit Malthouse MP to Police Headquarters where he was shown around the CCTV suite at HQ as well as meeting with members of the Force’s Rural Crime Team.

Award for Youth initiative Seaside Kicks

On Tuesday 22 June I visited the Seaside Kicks project in Llanelli to present organisers with a Dyfed-Powys Police Force Partnership Award, in acknowledgement of the initiative’s positive impact on children and young people in the area

UK Government’s Beating Crime Plan unconvincing

Following a visit to Number 10 Downing Street on Thursday 29.07.21, and the Government announcing the publication of their Beating Crime Plan I voiced some concerns over the plan’s objectives.

It is an ambitious and far reaching plan that does not take cognisance of the current demands on policing and capacity of forces to be able to deliver the objectives. The plan is very broad and moves towards dealing with volume of crime as opposed to prioritising threat, risk and harm.

The intention to introduce a performance comparison framework such as league tables, will not reflect or acknowledge the differentiations between police forces in terms of local needs.

Reference to serious violence within this plan for example are linked to the knives, guns and the drugs market, controlled by gangs, while the significant cause of our violent crime in Dyfed-Powys is domestic related. The Beating crime plan does not differentiate between the two types.

I cannot see that the Government’s plan will add value to what we already have in place here in Dyfed-Powys under the Chief Constable and my self’s leadership, and I fear that the funding they note will focus on national priorities, that are generally consistent to urban problems as opposed to rural community needs here in Dyfed-Powys.

It is disappointing that the plan has been developed without a formal consultation process with Police Forces and Police and Crime Commissioners, and following the announcement of a pay freeze for the police last week, I find it somewhat insulting and hypocritical.

Following my own consultation with the public and partners in recent weeks, I now look forward to engaging with the new Chief Constable on the development of a new police and crime plan that meets the needs and expectations of our communities here in Dyfed-Powys.

Elected to National Rural Crime Network Executive Board

In July, it was confirmed that I had been elected as an Executive Board Member to the National Rural Crime Network.

The National Rural Crime Network is a unique collaboration between Police and Crime Commissioners in Wales and England and a wide range of organisations who have a deep interest in community safety and rural affairs.

By being elected to the executive board of the National Rural Crime Network, I will not only be able to share good practice of our work here in Dyfed-Powys, but also understand more about the work going on in other parts of the UK.

Anything we can do to make it more difficult for criminals, has to be a positive move. I look forward to meeting with other members of the Network later on this year so that we can work collaboratively to make our rural communities safe.

Launching Safer Streets Fund small grant scheme

In the last couple of weeks I have launched the Safer Street small grant scheme for projects aimed at reducing acquisitive crimes in Llanelli.

Up to £2000 is available through the scheme for charities, voluntary organisations and community groups in the Elli 2 and Tyisha 2 wards of Llanelli.

The small grants scheme is part of the Safer Streets initiative whereby funding was secured earlier this year from the Home Office by my Office in partnership with Carmarthenshire Safer Communities Partnership.

This new additional funding will further build upon my work over recent years in the area, and I hope the residents will feel a positive difference in their communities.

Closing date for applications is the 17th of September.

Youth Forum Video sharing young people’s experiences of police contact will form part of Officers training

I am extremely pleased that my Youth Ambassadors have received national praise for their work in developing a short video sharing young people’s experiences of police contact aimed at breaking barriers and preconceptions between young people and the Police.

Dyfed-Powys Police have welcomed the video as a valuable resource, and confirmed that if will form part of training courses for police staff and officers in Dyfed-Powys, and Children’s Commissioner, Sally Holland sent a video message congratulating the Youth Forum for their work.

The project was developed following discussions of a focus group with the Youth Forum looking at the findings of a recent report commissioned by my Office in 2020, looking at the views of young people of policing, crime and wellbeing in the Dyfed-Powys area.

Overall, the report found that young people felt safe and had positive experiences of the police in Dyfed-Powys. However, a large minority expressed elements of fear and trust towards the Police. The Youth Ambassadors suggested that I work with them to break down such barriers by developing a video that would share young people’s positive and negative experiences of police contact.

I would like to congratulate all my Youth Ambassadors for their work on this great initiative. They have done an excellent job for us in engaging and meeting with other young people across the area to find individuals who would be ready to take part in the project and share their experiences.

The stories and experiences in the video are powerful, and will no doubt be a valuable learning resource for the Force’s training programmes. By no means do I believe that there are major relationship issues between the Police and young people here in Dyfed-Powys thankfully, but undoubtedly if we find small areas of improvement that can be made, we will look to do so through creative and impactful initiatives such as this project.

From the day I was elected in 2016, I have prioritised supporting young people, as I will once again following being re-elected. It is crucial that we deliver sensitive, relevant and effective policing to ensure that we meet the needs and expectations of our young people.

Below you can view the video highlights to get a taste of the video content.

Annual Report

On Friday 30 July, I published my 2020-2021 Annual Report, following its presentation to members of the Dyfed-Powys Police and Crime Panel.

I am proud to present my 2020-2021 Annual Report, which looks back at how the office changed its day-to-day operations during the pandemic, and how the statutory functions of a Police and Crime Commissioner continued to be discharged during this challenging year.