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The Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC) supports the work of the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) for Gloucestershire.
This team exists to enable PCC Chris Nelson to successfully carry out his duties. The OPCC is led by a Chief Executive, whose responsibility is to manage the staff team and provide a monitoring role to ensure that standards remain high.
The team also includes a Chief Finance Officer to advise the PCC on financial matters. Other specialist staff provide support on key areas of business and manage the administrative functions of the OPCC.
Twenty seven members of the team are directly employed by the OPCC, the remaining are either paid by the Constabulary or jointly funded. Below are the roles within the OPCC and the functions they deliver.
The Chief Executive’s role is a statutory role of any OPCC. This means that by law the PCC must have a Chief Executive.
Ruth’s main role is to support and advise the PCC in delivering his/her manifesto, as expressed through the Police and Crime Plan, and in undertaking the statutory duties and responsibilities, including:
The Chief Executive also holds the role of Head of Paid Services for the OPCC and Monitoring Officer. This latter responsibility includes a remit to draw to the PCC’s attention any actual or possible contravention of law, maladministration or injustice. She is the senior adviser to the PCC and has oversight of all property and estates owned by the PCC and occupied by the Constabulary.
The Chief Executive also ensures the effective strategic and operational leadership of the Office of the PCC.
Becky is responsible for developing a strategic approach to partnerships, performance and accountability within the Office of the Police & Crime Commissioner (OPCC) for Gloucestershire. The role includes providing oversight of collaborative and partnership working, ensuring detailed scrutiny and analysis of both the Constabulary and stakeholder performance indicators in support of the PCC’s holding to account functions and overseeing the effective management of contact and complaints made to the OPCC. She manages the OPCC Policy and Performance Team, Contact and Complaints Team to promote best practice. This includes, ensuring a high quality secretariat function is provided for key partnership- meetings including Safer Gloucestershire, Gloucestershire Local Criminal Justice Board and the Gloucestershire Emergency Services Collaboration Board.
Becky’s work also includes leading on all election related activity for both the OPCC and Constabulary (with the exception of operational policing activity), managing the various work streams that support activity directed by the PCC (including the delivery of the Police and Crime Plan) and monitoring of legislative and/or national policy developments that relate to the work of the OPCC.
With overarching strategic responsibility for all commissioning and contract monitoring related activity within the Office of the Police & Crime Commissioner (OPCC) for Gloucestershire, Kirsten leads and directs the OPCC’s activities to improve outcomes for victims. This includes the designing, commissioning and monitoring of evidence-based victims’ services, scrutiny of external providers’ performance, working with local and national partners to develop victim-focused policies and coordinating the processes associated with the Commissioner’s Fund.
Kirsten is responsible for overseeing and monitoring the delivery of relevant commissioning projects and services, ensuring effective and efficient delivery of the required outcomes and benefits to ensure the effective discharge of the PCC’s local, regional and national functions. Kirsten will strategically advise in relation to prioritised allocation of the PCC’s victims’ services budgets, towards the delivery of the PCC’s Police and Crime Prevention Plan priorities and objectives.
Kirsten also provides oversight, leadership, co-ordination and submission of bids in response to HM Government funding offers and will deputise for the Chief Executive of the OPCC when required.
The Head of Public Affairs is a joint post between the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC) and the Constabulary and helps ensure their roles and services are communicated, understood and supported in line with the vision and priorities set out in the Police and Crime Plan and Corporate Strategy.
Hilary is responsible for developing communications and public engagement strategies, policies and protocols for the OPCC and Constabulary and ensuring they are implemented, monitored, evaluated and updated as well as for providing independent judgement and advice in the fields of internal and external communication, community engagement and public affairs.
The Head of Public Affairs chairs relevant forums and works with other senior managers to create and sustain communication channels to enable effective engagement with staff, as well as keeping up to date with partner and Parliamentary developments locally and nationally to advise colleagues in the OPCC and Constabulary on emerging issues.
The main role of the Chief Finance Officer (CFO) is to support the PCC to deliver his/her strategic ambitions, as expressed through the Police and Crime Plan, within the financial resources expected to be available. This includes both an oversight of the financial resources made available to the Chief Constable and the funds used directly by the OPCC for commissioning activities.
Peter works with the CFO for the Constabulary to enable both the translation of the PCC’s ambitions into action and to avoid the duplication of effort. The CFOs promote and deliver good financial management so that public money is safeguarded at all times, is spent wisely, economically and efficiently.
Peter holds the role of Section 151 (S151) Officer for the OPCC. This is a statutory role, strengthened by the Local Government Finance Act 1988 (in England and Wales), which requires the CFO to report inappropriate financial management as well as wrongdoing. This responsibility extends into the OPCC’s partnerships, collaborative and devolved arrangements, joint ventures and companies in which the PCC has an interest.
As the name suggests, this role deals with all contact from members of the public and the Constabulary that are received by the OPCC. All enquiries are dealt with in a timely manner and every contact receives a response advising on the next step depending on what the actual query is. This is a varied role as correspondence received may not always be something the office can help with and finding who can is a challenge.
Lisa also manages any dissatisfaction that is received and any Freedom of Information requests on behalf of the PCC. This involves liaising with the Constabulary’s Professional Standards Department (PSD), Service Recovery Team, Force Control Room, Executive Support office and many individual officers and departments around the Constabulary for advice and help in resolving issues.
Lisa also works closely with Independent Review Officer whose role it is to consider requests for a review of completed complaints from the PSD when received.
The Finance and Administrative Assistant helps the office with a wide range of tasks. Predominantly by providing a variety of meetings with administrative support both for the OPCC and the Constabulary, monitoring the PCC inbox, updating the website with relevant reports and being responsible for raising Purchase Orders and paying invoices to support the Commissioning Team and other teams within the office. Other responsibilities include supporting Independent Review Officer with activity relating to that role.
With local, regional and national expectations placed on the office, office support is essential. It is the role of the PAs to manage diaries and enquiries from partners and members of the public, administer the governance structures essential to the purpose of the OPCC and support the day to day functions of the wider office.
Ali is the PA to the OPCC Chief Executive and Chief Finance Officer.
With local, regional and national expectations placed on the office, office support is essential. It is the role of the PAs to manage diaries and enquiries from partners and members of the public, administer the governance structures essential to the purpose of the OPCC and support the day to day functions of the wider office.
Vanessa is the PA to the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) and the Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner (DPCC).
In 2014 the government implemented new legislation under the Anti-social behaviour Crime and Policing Act 2014 to provide statutory partners clear powers to deal with anti-social behaviour (ASB) and to provide victims of ongoing ASB a voice.
The Anti-Social Behaviour Review (previously known as a Community Trigger) is a tool that victims can apply for if they have reported three or more incidents of ASB and the behaviour is still ongoing/unresolved.
Upon application, the ASB review coordinator will research the information held. If the threshold is met, a mandatory panel meeting is coordinated with partners to discuss, problem solve and to devise an action plan to try and resolve the ASB as well as improve people’s lives. The victims are also invited to attend the meeting which can be a powerful and effective process.
Graham Gardner is the Police is responsible for ensuring delivery of an effective and professional service to all our stakeholders in order to help build trust, satisfaction and confidence in the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC) and to develop appropriate communications to explain and support the PCC’s Police and Crime Plan.
As part of this brief, he oversees the news and media section of the OPCC website, produces an annual report and regular newsletters which are available to stakeholders and the wider public online to keep them informed of the breadth of work undertaken by the OPCC.
Before joining the OPCC, Graham enjoyed a long career as journalist working first on local and regional newspapers. He cut his teeth as a broadcast journalist as one of the pioneers of Independent Local Radio in Gloucestershire before joining the BBC where he continued for 25 years in television and radio.
Working alongside the Communications Manager, the Communications and Engagement Officer works on the digital side of communications to help build trust, satisfaction and confidence in the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC) and to develop appropriate communications to explain and support the PCC’s Police and Crime Prevention Plan.
As part of this brief, they will create digital content such as press releases, video and animation, and distributes this across social media; Your Community Alerts; the external media; and on the OPCC’s own website. They are also responsible for community engagement across all of the OPCC’s digital channels and works alongside the Constabulary and with external media on public campaigns to highlight the Police and Crime Prevention Plan.
The role of Policy Officer is a wide-ranging role that requires the post holder to manage a number of work streams, proactively engage with a range of partners and represent the OPCC at a senior level in local, regional and national meetings.
As well as the more generic functions outlined above, Jo also takes the lead on all matters relating to road safety in the OPCC as well as those relating to young people. Jo has recently carried out research, for example into road safety concerns of the county’s Parish and Town Councils. With regards to road safety, Jo is also the co-ordination link between the OPCC and the national Roads Policing Lead, Superintendent Paul Keasey. Paul is a Gloucestershire Constabulary officer and supports Jo with approaches to the National Police Chief’s Council (NPCC) road safety campaign calendar. In addition they work with an academic researcher from Keele University, to develop localised strategic approaches to road safety.
More recently Jo has also taken a lead in the OPCC with regards to how the office can support local young people. Recent work includes what support may be required as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and exercise to map all organisations that support young people in Gloucestershire. This work has also focused on how to ensure the voices of young people are involved and included in OPCC/Constabulary activity.
Jo also supports with activity alongside the Constabulary and at a county level to develop plans for Covid-19 recovery.
The Research and Policy Officer conducts research on behalf of the PCC and OPCC. This research helps the PCC to hold the Chief Constable to account. It also helps inform policy making and funding decisions for the OPCC and the Constabulary. Notable pieces of work include a review of the Force Control Room (FCR), retail crime, pet theft and a female offender gap analysis.
Antony supports:
The Research & Policy Officer also provides support to the Senior Policy Officer and the wider OPCC by representing the office at a number of internal strategic level and external meetings.
Bio to come soon
The Senior Analyst roles work to support the OPCC in key areas such as commissioning and partnership working. Supporting the development and management of the Police & Crime Prevention Plan performance framework as well as core functions of the OPCC including holding to account and supporting overall strategic development.
The role involves obtaining and analysing data to identify emerging trends, improvements, risks and issues. Using this data to produce reports, presentations and other performance products which include recommendations for change and contribute to the efficiency and effectiveness of the organisation.
The OPCC Commissioning Team are responsible for commissioning and co-commissioning victim services in Gloucestershire. These services include Victim Support, ISVA (Independent Sexual Violence Advisors) service, ISAC (Independent Stalking Advocacy Caseworker) service, Restorative Justice, as well as a contribution to the SARC service, custody healthcare, Domestic Abuse services (for victims and perpetrators), Youth Offending Service, Homelessness Outreach and the county’s drug and alcohol support service. The team leads on, or contributes to the contract management of all these services.
In addition, the Team also manages and administers the Commissioner’s Fund which provides grants to charities and community groups across Gloucestershire who meet one or more of the six Police and Crime Prevention Plan priorities and relate to community safety and crime reduction. In total, since 2013 500+ projects have been grant funded.
The team is also responsible for applying for national and local funding streams to enable more local opportunities for the county. Each member of the Team holds the following portfolios:
Assistant Chief Executive – Victims and Commissioning (Kirsten Fruin)
- ​Commissioning and grant funding
- National funding streams
- Serious violence
- VIAWG agenda
- VCOP compliance
Commissioning Manager (Alana Dix)
Commissioning Officer (Laura Bartle)
Commissioning Officer (Jo Zamojska)
Commissioning Assistant (Kerry Ridyard)
The role of the Strategic Violence Prevention Coordinator was created in December 2022 to ensure Gloucestershire meets the requirements of the Serious Violence Duty (SVD) that became statute law on the 31st January 2023.
Neil works within the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Gloucestershire and directly reports to Kirsten Fruin; Assistant Chief Executive and Senior Responsible Officer (SRO) for the SVD.
Neil’s main responsibility is to embed the SVD across Gloucestershire Key Partners; Health, Education, County Council, Local Authorities, Probation, Youth Justice Service and the Police.
The focus throughout 2023 will be the creation of the Gloucestershire Violence Reduction Partnership in line with National Best Practice that has been matured since the creation of Violence Reduction Units (VRU’s)
Neil will advise, support and give guidance to all stakeholders both statutory and non-statutory in the coordinated approach in all aspects of violence prevention, especially youth violence. This will also include:
This role was developed, and is funded, from the OPCC securing money from the Home Office for Safer Streets Round 4. The funding supports the PCC in delivering the Police and Crime Prevention plan as the money awarded is going towards interventions to tackle Anti-Social Behaviour, Neighbourhood Crime and Violence and Intimidation against Women and Girls (VIAWG).
Caitlin’s main responsibilities are to make sure that all the money has been spent by the end of the funding period, September 2023, by liaising with internal and external bodies. Caitlin is also required to submit monitoring reports to the Home Office each quarter and works alongside the Finance Department to complete this.
Before this secondment, Caitlin was the Finance and Admin Assistant within the OPCC.
The Victims and Vulnerability Strategic Coordinator chairs the Victim Code of Practice (VCOP) scrutiny panel, which requires all statutory agencies (Police, Crown Prosecution Service, Courts and Probation) to look in detail at specific cases, scrutinising VCOP compliance and developing learning for the future. They also coordinate and chair the Victims and Witness Group for the county, which brings together all relevant statutory agencies as well as local providers of victim services to discuss emerging issues and risks, as well as share best practice.
The role is a strategic link to the newly established Victims’ Hub within the Constabulary, which launched in December 2023. The Hub was established following clear direction and funding from the Police and Crime Commissioner and has been set up to enhance the Constabulary’s service to victims by focusing on victim contact throughout the journey of an investigation and the criminal justice process.
The Victims and Vulnerability Strategic Coordinator is also the OPCC lead on the development of Right Care Right Person in the county and is leading on the implementation of the Victims and Prisoners Act locally.
The County Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Strategic Coordinator is a jointly funded post between OPCC, Constabulary and County Council. This role leads on the ‘Coordinated Community Response’ to DASV for Gloucestershire, leading on the development and implementation of the countywide strategies for domestic abuse and sexual violence. The role is responsible for:
The Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Consultation Officer is a joint post between the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC) and Gloucestershire County Council (GCC).
This role has been created to gather and consider the views and feedback of victims/survivors, their children and the wider community to gain insight and understanding into their lived experience of domestic abuse and/or sexual violence in Gloucestershire. This consultation and engagement work will support and inform the development of local strategies, services and action plans. It will involve reaching out to a wide and diverse range of people from across the County to gain a better understanding of both domestic abuse and sexual violence, as well as the priorities, concerns, issues and views of the stakeholders on the current service offers, gaps and future developments. The Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Consultation Network has been established to provide a platform to reach a large number of local people; the Consultation Officer continues to recruit to this network. It is imperative that the authentic voice of those who have experienced domestic abuse and/or sexual violence are heard and listened to.
This role will support the work of the County Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Strategic Coordinator including the development and roll out of awareness raising activity.
This is a new joint role between the OPCC and Gloucestershire County Council to provide operational management information to the DASV Strategic Coordinator (Sophie Jarrett), contributing to the delivery of both the DA and SV strategies. More specifically it includes conducting research and projects; Supporting with all requests for information arising from national research and contributing to DA and SV partnership boards supporting delivery of action plans.
Currently focus has been on making contributions to inform the SV strategy- involving liaising with local organisations for data etc. as well as conducting research projects for the DA strategy. This role will be linking closely with local organisations and working across various areas of DA and SV.
As the Safer Gloucestershire Co-ordinator, Debbie assists the Deputy Police & Crime Commissioner in the development and administration of the Safer Gloucestershire Partnership; this multi-agency partnership calls upon the expertise and leadership of senior managers from a range of agencies across the county to enhance public safety in Gloucestershire.
Debbie has a particular focus on developing strong partnership and collaborative working with colleagues at all levels and across key community safety partners and partnerships, such as Gloucestershire Constabulary, District Councils, Gloucestershire County Council, health providers and Gloucestershire Fire & Rescue Service. Together we work with our communities to not only identify the priorities and problems that we need to solve but also to identify the skills and resources that we can share to make a difference and work towards a safer Gloucestershire.
As part of her role, Debbie overseas the three year strategic assessment process which identifies county priorities (undertaken by Safer Gloucestershire on behalf of the district community safety partnerships); works closely with the OPCC Commissioning team and partners to secure external funding and is part of a small OPCC team who undertake the annual perception of crime survey which helps to inform the work undertaken in the county.
Debbie also takes the lead in the OPCC on all matters relating to road safety, retail crime, fraud and hate crime, attending strategic and operational meetings providing a link to district partnerships.
Annie supports the Independent Custody Visitors (ICVs) Scheme. This scheme is a statutory requirement which ensures that the rights and welfare of detainees in custody are being looked after. This role involves monthly meetings with ICVs and the Chief Inspector for Custody, quarterly panel meetings, the production of quarterly and annual reports, delivery of training to new ICVs as well as ongoing training for all ICVs.
Annie also manages the recently implemented Animal Welfare Scheme. This sees volunteers visiting our police dogs to ensure that their welfare needs are being met in accordance with the five welfare needs as documented in the Animal Welfare Act 2006 and provides a ‘critical friend’ to the Constabulary.
Annie is also the coordinator for the Councillor Advocacy Scheme which hopes to build bridges between local councillors and neighbourhood policing teams. She organises regular meetings between councillors and the police incorporating guest speakers to allow councillors to hopefully get a full picture of policing.
Please contact [email protected] if any of the above are of interest.