New deputy mayor for policing and crime named

A former probation officer and senior civil servant is set to be named as deputy mayor of policing and crime for South Yorkshire.

Kilvinder Vigurs has been selected by South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard as his preferred candidate for the role.

Ms Vigurs began her career as a probation officer in Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire and most recently has served as Regional Probation Director in Yorkshire and the Humber.

She said: "I am absolutely committed to spending my first few weeks going out to talk to people. You can read things, but you can't feel the emotions people have."

As Deputy Mayor, Ms Vigurs will work with Coppard to oversee and improve policing and criminal justice services, to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour and to commission services to support victims and reduce offending.

She will deliver the Police and Crime Plan, chair the Local Criminal Justice Board, chair the Safer Roads Partnership, and have close oversight of the Violence Reduction Unit.

In recent months, South Yorkshire has made national headlines following rioting at a hotel housing asylum seekers in Manvers, near Rotherham, and the fatal stabbing of teenage school boy Harvey Willgoose.

Ms Vigurs said: "The first thing I need to do is talk to communities and ascertain what they think.

"We need to talk to parents whose children have been victims of knife crime, we need go out to the communities who are experiencing daily anti-social behaviour that makes their lives a misery.

"Clearly the media headlines are the bad news but I also think there is some good news to be sharing as well."

In her new role she will also need to deal with the legacy of South Yorkshire Police's handling of events at the Orgreave coking works in 1984, the Rotherham child sex abuse scandal and the Hillsborough Disaster.

Ms Vigurs said she promised to keep talking to CSE survivors to "make sure lessons have been learned" and said she supported the calls for an inquiry into Orgreave.

Another area for her to focus on is the "fundamental accounting error" which led to a £65m hole in South Yorkshire Police's finances, with Coppard saying the results of an inquiry into the matter set to be made public later this year.

Coppard, who will remain accountable for all the functions of Police and Crime Commissioner, said: [Kilvinder's] wealth of experience, her priorities, her values and her sheer determination to help people will help to change South Yorkshire for the better."

Ms Vigurs' appointment is subject to a confirmation hearing by the South Yorkshire Police and Crime Panel on Thursday 15 May

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