Katy Bourne PCC elected new APCC Chair
Katy Bourne OBE, the Police and Crime Commissioner for Sussex, has been elected as the new Chair of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners at their Annual General Meeting.
APCC Chair, Katy Bourne said:
“I am delighted to be able to take on this role. I will not waste a moment over the next year to raise the profile and influence of PCCs for the benefit of police officers and staff but also our communities across England and Wales.
“The work I want to drive forward over the next year falls into a number of key areas: supporting our people - police officers and staff; building public confidence and their consent to be policed; channelling innovation for an agile response to crime trends and threats; and developing a whole-systems approach to the Criminal Justice System.
“Ultimately, our work is about making a real difference through articulating the concerns of real people and ensuring our police forces make our communities safer.”
Commenting on the work of the outgoing Chair, PCC Mark Burns-Williamson, Katy Bourne added:
“Mark has proved a very effective Chair of the APCC over the last year, in particular driving forward the work of the Association on serious violence and modern slavery. I look forward to continue to work with him and all PCC colleagues over the coming year."
In addition to Katy becoming Chair, Martin Surl PCC for Gloucestershire and Mark Burns-Williamson PCC will serve as Vice Chairs for the APCC.
About PCC Katy Bourne OBE
Katy was raised and schooled in Sussex before graduating from Aberystwyth University. She still lives in mid-Sussex, is married to Kevin and has two adult sons. She was a successful business woman before entering politics and retains a keen interest in innovative business start-ups especially green technologies.
Katy is in her second term as Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) for Sussex. She was first elected in 2012 and re-elected in 2016, when she more than doubled her majority. The PCC’s role is to hold the Chief Constable of Sussex Police to account for the performance of the Force, effectively making the police answerable to the communities they serve. Katy is responsible for setting the strategic direction and priorities for Sussex Police through the Police & Crime Plan. This includes setting the police budget and local police precept – the amount residents pay for policing in their council tax. She also has a statutory duty to commission support services for victims of crime and to deliver community safety initiatives including restorative justice and crime reduction grants.
She brings a genuine passion and commitment to make a difference and her work to support victims of crime has won her praise from successive Home Secretaries and Prime Ministers. Katy was also nationally recognised for founding the award-winning Sussex Youth Commission in 2013 and the Sussex Elders’ Commission in 2015.
Katy is a former Director of the Board of the College of Policing and former advisor to the editorial board of the Guardian Public Leaders Network. She is currently Chair of the Sussex Criminal Justice Board; Chair and National Spokesperson of the Association of Police & Crime Commissioners Digital Policing & Technology Portfolio; and Chair and a non-Exec Director of the national Police ICT Company.
Katy was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in June 2019.