PCC reports on a strong and successful year tackling crime and protecting communities
Main article content
Police and Crime Commissioner Darryl Preston, has unveiled his 2025/26 Annual Report, showcasing major progress against the public’s top safety priorities.
The report, unanimously approved by the county’s Police and Crime Panel, provides an overview of the Commissioner’s achievements throughout the financial year, including progress made against his Police and Crime Plan priorities, as shaped by thousands of residents and businesses across the county.
Covering the period 1st April 2025 until 31st March 2026, the report highlights the ongoing advances being made to increase policing visibility, improve response times and prevent crime from happening in the first place.
Residents now have a named police officer dedicated to their local area following the roll-out of the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee with the Constabulary committed to responding to all issues of local concern within 72 hours.
Thirty extra officers have been assigned to neighbourhood policing teams thanks to additional government funding worth £749,456 secured by the PCC, while communities have benefitted from an extra 12,500 hours of additional visible patrols in ‘hotspot’ areas by officers or PCSOs, funded through the national ‘Hotspot Action Fund’.
There has been further improvement in response and communication times with 999 calls down from four to three seconds in 12 months and officers typically attending urgent incidents within 15 minutes.
Out of 35 police forces in England and Wales currently meeting the 90% target, the Constabulary ranked 22nd at 93% – despite a higher call volume.
Darryl said: “I am proud of our achievements last year and the strong partnerships and joint problem solving that has made them possible.
“It matters a great deal to me that our investment is felt by our communities and makes a genuine difference to people’s lives. That said, while important progress has been made, the Constabulary continues to respond to increasing demand and without significant investment from government, delivering the level of service our communities rightly expect will become untenable.
“I promised to be a commissioner that always listens and learns from our communities, and this will not change. While it is a privilege to bring to fruition improvements that matter and have been called for by the public, there is much more to achieve. I am more determined than ever to build on the very firm foundations laid to continue delivering the best possible service to the people of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.”
In the recent Crime Survey for England and Wales, Cambridgeshire Constabulary is the highest ranked force for ‘police in this area can be trusted’ and fifth overall for both ‘police deal with local concerns’ and ‘overall confidence in local police’.
There have been notable reductions in some crimes as a result of positive and focused policing including vehicle crime (-7%), theft from motor vehicles (-14%), interference with a vehicle (-23%), theft from person (-27%), cycle theft (reduced by more than 16%), shoplifting (-6%), personal robbery (just under -1%) and online and cyber-enabled recorded crime (reduced by more than 2%).
In other success, the PCC has continued to attract major external funding into the force area, including just under £600k from the Home Office to prevent and reduce violence including knife crime.
The funding has enabled partners to build on the preventative activity already in place and has resulted in over 4,000 young people and almost 350 adults being engaged throughout the year, in addition to training for 650 professionals.
And in robustly addressing anti-social behaviour (ASB), the PCC has extended his original investment into Problem Solving Coordinator posts across the county’s six Community Safety Partnership (CSP) areas, providing £241k to support their ongoing response to issues such as cuckooing, drug dealing, anti-social behaviour, criminal damage and arson.
A further £2.2m has been awarded by the PCC to local services ensuring all victims and witnesses of crime can access support and safety planning through a centralised Victim and Witness Hub connecting them to a range of specialist providers.