Ron Hogg, Police and Crime Commissioner for Durham, held his first voluntary and community sector forum earlier today. The event was organised in partnership with Clinks who support voluntary organisations that work with offenders and their families. The forum was attended by over 50 organisations from across County Durham and Darlington.
The breakfast meeting is a positive step in building on engagement between the Police and Crime Commissioner and the voluntary sector.
Mr Hogg said: “Voluntary and Community organisations play a fundamental role in supporting community cohesion and working with victims, witnesses and offenders across the criminal justice system.
The purpose of hosting this event was to provide an opportunity for the voluntary and community organisations to meet with me so that we could discuss my Police and Crime Plan; and how I should engage with the sector in future.
I was delighted to see so many representatives attend and I look forward to working with them. I intend to hold this forum a minimum of four times per year, the next being in October”.
Natalie Maidment, from Clinks said: “The forum this morning was extremely useful and well attended and it was important that we start discussions on working together now in order to ensure the sector can have an input into future commissioning intentions and priority setting for the PCC’s police and crime plan. It is great that Mr Hogg has seen the importance and benefit of engaging with the sector and I hope that this work is rolled out throughout the North East”.
