Do you have working smoke alarms in your home?
Essex County Fire and Rescue Service is giving home fire safety advice throughout September to help reduce the risk of house fires.
Smoke alarms are proven life savers and Essex County Fire and Rescue Service wants all homes in Essex to benefit from having working smoke alarms.
Station Manager Russ Freeman from Grays Fire Station said: “Our most important safety advice is to ensure you have a working smoke alarm on every level of your home. Smoke alarms save lives and they can alert you and your neighbours to a fire in your home. Make sure you test them at least once a month - we like to remember Test It Tuesday to test smoke alarms. If you or someone you know doesn’t have working smoke alarms, please get in touch with home fire safety team by calling 0300 303 0088 or you can visit essex-fire.gov.uk/book.”
Find more information here.
Community Specials have done ‘immense things’
Essex Police's Community Special Constable scheme has been praised by a councillor who says it has ‘done immense things’ for her town.
The scheme was launched wwith Witham Town Council in June 2018 and town councillor and former mayor JoAnn Williams says that, since then, anti-social behaviour has ‘really diminished’.
Cllr Williams says the town council is so enthusiastic about the scheme, councillors have accompanied Essex Police’s Community Special Constable scheme co-ordinator Les Hawkins on visits to other councils to encourage them to join up. There are currently 51 councils on the look-out for Community Specials to help keep their parishes safe.
Read more here.
Join our team - Job Vacancy - Apprentice PR and Communications Assistant
We are looking for an exceptional candidate for the exciting and unique opportunity to be our Apprentice Public Relations and Communications Assistant.
The role is an 18 month fixed term apprenticeship opportunity with a starting salary of £19,000 and the potential to increase to a maximum of £20,000 after 12 months. If you or someone you know has what it takes for this varied role click here.
Celebrating 999 Day
Essex County Fire and Rescue Service - The Service celebrated 999 Day on Thursday, 9th September by recognising all their staff and volunteers that work to keep Essex safe.
In its 4th year, the national 999 Day campaign seeks to recognise the approximately 2 million people who work and volunteer for emergency services across the UK.
It also recognises and remembers more than 7,500 members of UK emergency services who have been killed in the line of duty in the last 200 years.
Essex County Fire and Rescue Service asked members of the public to join them in observing a two minutes’ silence at 9am on 9th September to remember those who paid the ultimate sacrifice when protecting their communities.
In Essex, ECFRS works with Essex Police, the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust (EEAST), NHS Trusts in North, Mid and South Essex as well as Her Majesty’s Coastguard, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) and Essex Search and Rescue to help keep people safe.
Throughout the day, ECFRS shared stories of how the Service has worked with emergency service colleagues throughout the pandemic and encouraged members of the public to learn more about the different emergency services in Essex.
Read more here
Essex Police - Essex Police is proud to work alongside its emergency colleagues to help our communities, keep people safe and catch criminals.
Please help by not misusing the emergency 999 service. Calling 999 when it's not a genuine emergency could prevent Essex Police getting to someone who really needs help.
Antisocial behaviour and non-emergency crime can now be reported online through the #digital101 service. Please visit www.essex.police.uk/digital101 for more information.
If you aren't sure if your call is for Essex Police or you have a general question about policing, you can visit www.askthe.police.uk/
Outstanding bravery and work of Essex police officers honoured
Outstanding acts of bravery from officers who work so hard to keep people safe in Essex were honoured last night a special ceremony organised by the Essex Police Federation.
Roger Hirst, Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Essex, attended the event and was privileged to be asked to present one of the awards.
He said: “Everyday police officers walk towards danger to protect others and it is truly humbling to have been present last night to hear the stories of their bravery first-hand. Congratulations to everyone who was nominated and thank you on behalf of the people of Essex for everything you all do, every day, to protect us and keep us safe.”
Read more here.
Policing Minister visits Essex after success of hotspot policing trials
An initiative created and piloted by Essex Police has been praised by Policing Minister Kit Malthouse in a visit to Southend.
Detective Chief Inspector Lewis Basford, who helps to run the force’s Serious Violence Unit, trialled hotspot policing in Southend as part of his Masters studies, and it has now been rolled out across the county, and the country.
After identifying hotspots with higher levels of violence in the town, Essex Police continued its commitment to visibility by implementing regular patrols in these areas throughout 2020.
As a result, it saw a 73.5% drop in violent crime and 31.9% fall in street crime on the days the hotspots were patrolled in comparison to the days they were not.
Visit the knife angel
If you are in Chelmsford please stop by and look at the knife angel. You can visit this thought-provoking sculpture at Central Park and join those who are already stopping to think and reflect on issues raised by the installation – the dangers of carrying a knife, youth violence and gang culture.
Jane Gardner, Deputy Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Essex, represented Roger Hirst at its installation last week.
She gives her thoughts on its emotive message in this video.
For more about the programme of activity while the knife angel is in Essex visit www.keepit100essex.com
We are working hard with partners to tackle knife crime in Essex. You can find out more about the work we are doing by visiting our Violence and Vulnerability Team’s website at www.essexvvu.co.uk
Supporting the Safer Essex Roads Partnership's Vision Zero campaign
Safer Essex Roads Partnership (SERP) officially commenced public engagement with the release of its draft strategy, detailing how Vision Zero could be achieved in Essex.
Vision Zero was launched as an aspiration in November 2020 but the Partnership released the draft strategy as part of a pop-up event using a digi-van, campaign materials and with support from the Project Edward Team.
Roger Hirst, Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Essex, said: “More people are killed or seriously on our roads than they are by any other crime type and we must all do more to prevent this. It’s vital we support this campaign and work with the Safer Essex Roads Partnership to deliver Vision Zero. In our proposed Police and Crime Plan for Essex, improving safety on our roads is a priority with the objectives of continuing to improve road safety, promote safer driving behaviours and robustly targeting those who cause the most harm on our roads.”
Essex Association for Local Councils
The EALC Annual Report is out now and ready for download! If you have a spare moment, please do take the opportunity to have a read of its specially re-designed brochure, looking back at the year 2020/21.
Celebrating our volunteers
The incredible volunteers who support our work have been celebrated at a special event.
The great achievements of almost 60 volunteers who give their time as Restorative Justice, Independent Custody Visitors and Dog Welfare volunteers were highlighted at our annual Volunteer Appreciation Event last weekend.
Roger Hirst, Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Essex, said: “Our volunteers make a huge difference to the people of Essex. Our Restorative Justice volunteers have allowed our Restorative Justice and Mediation Service to grow, enabling victims and perpetrators of crime to achieve meaningful reparation, seeking to heal the harm caused by offending. Our Dog Welfare volunteers help to provide assurance that our police dogs are cared for in the best way possible which is crucial for both the police and the wider public and our Independent Custody Volunteers work closely with the Independent Custody Visiting Association and Essex Police custody staff to continuously improve the rights, dignity and welfare of those in police custody.”
He added: “The importance of volunteering cannot be overestimated. On behalf of myself and the people of Essex, I want to say thank you to you all!”
See more here.
National Police Memorial Day #NPMD21
The National Police Memorial Day is a day to honour police officers who have made the ultimate sacrifice protecting and serving their communities.
Roger Hirst, Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Essex, said: “The day is an opportunity to honour and recognise those heroic officers who paid the ultimate price to protect us. Everyday police officers, staff and volunteers walk towards danger to help those in need. On behalf of the people of Essex, thank you, for keeping us safe.”
Read more here.
Chelmsford custody facility re-opens
The final section of our newly refurbished Chelmsford station has now reopened. The custody facility of the station, which is in the heart of the town centre, reopened on Friday 17 September returning Chelmsford to our list of fully operational stations across the county.
Read more about the investment here.
Former Tilbury police station goes up for sale
The former police station at Tilbury is to go up for sale as part of the continued ambitious programme to rationalise and modernise our estate.
Essex Police and the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Essex continue to work hard to ensure the county’s police stations are efficient and fit for the needs of modern policing both now and in the future
Read more here.
Preferred candidate for Chief Fire Officer/Chief Executive of Essex County Fire and Rescue Service announced
Roger Hirst, the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Essex, has selected Rick Hylton as his preferred candidate to become the next Chief Fire Officer/Chief Executive of Essex County Fire and Rescue Service.
Rick is currently the Deputy Chief Fire Officer of the Service and was selected following a rigorous and competitive process. He came out ahead of a strong field of national and international candidates from both fire and rescue services, public and private sector organisations, with the rest of the interview panel unanimously supporting his selection.
Roger will present Rick as his preferred candidate to the Police, Fire and Crime Panel at a statutory confirmation hearing that will take place on October 21st.
Roger said: “Rick’s selection is well deserved. He is an out-standing individual who has already contributed so much to both the Service and Greater Essex as co-chair of the Essex Resilience Forum, helping to lead Essex as we worked through the COVID-19 pandemic."
Read more here.