Five takeaways from Crime Commissioner in hot seat

Essex’s Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner (PFCC) opened up about unsafe flats, firefighters’ mental health and his desire to reduce crime in the county.

Conservative Roger Hirst discussed the key talking points – and more - during an exclusive interview with BBC Essex Breakfast presenter Sonia Watson.

Mr Hirst was first elected to the role back in 2016 before he secured another term following elections in May – a victory he previously said he was “delighted” about.

Here are the five key takeaways from his time in the hot seat.

Over the last couple of years Amleen House, in Colchester, and Joseph Rank House, in Harlow, have both been ruled unsafe and uninhabitable.

As a result, tenants had to be moved to somewhere “much, much safer”.

Mr Hirst said “we can’t allow people to continue living like this” and added: “Fire safety in big buildings has been a real focus for the last couple of years and has to be a real focus.

“We’ve put a lot of money into helping those who own these buildings understand they are not going to be able to go on like this.

“We have done a pretty robust review of all of the high rises around the county - a very robust review, and we continue to do that with a degree of frequency.

“We are also really keen to make sure more domestic residencies are safe, so we’ve really stepped up the number of home fire safety visits.

“During Covid the service did 3,600 checks, but we are now doing over 10,000 a year.”

Earlier this week, BBC Essex reported on a former firefighter who said he left the service after "horrendous" incidents left him traumatised.

He resigned from the Essex County Fire & Rescue Service (ECFRS) in 2021 having seen "the worst kind of fatalities" on what he said was a regular basis.

It was also revealed 85 employees had been signed off by ECFRS due to mental health issues over the past year.

Mr Hirst reassured fire crews there was help available.

“They will go to incidents where they see the worst and in awful circumstances,” he said.

“We have people step forward to do the most amazing jobs in firefighting and policing and the things they see can be truly traumatic,” he said.

“They go to those sorts of incidents and see those brutal things and I can’t take that away. But what we can do is provide the support."

He said he was "disappointed" the former firefighter who spoke to the BBC "doesn’t know how to access the trauma support" and added: "So I need to look at how we promote it more.

“We do have counselling services we commission, and that support can be made available to people.

“Of course, there will be people who are signed off because it’s an awful thing to have to go through.”

Another key topic which came up during the hotseat was the suggestion that Corringham was not being adequately looked after by the police and fire services.

The Essex town has been without a police station for some time – something Mr Hirst currently has no plans to change.

He said: “There is a real police presence in Corringham and we are not neglecting Corringham..

“The police station was sold off before I became PFCC, so I don’t know why it hasn’t been redeveloped but equally I am not saying I am going to buy it back.”

The overall crime rate in Essex is 78 incident per 1,000 people, with the most common type of crime being violence and sexual offences, according to CrimeRate.

Mr Hirst said a key goal was to see crime in the country significantly reduce.

“My target is to get crime down by 40% overall,” he added. “It is my ambition to get crime down to its historic low.

“Essex Police knows what I want to achieve but it’s not the chief constable’s commitment - it’s my commitment.

“If there is a completely new law that says ‘this is crime’ and that increases the level of crime in Essex then I am not going to fire the chief constable for having not done it.

“But, if I don’t put any figures on anything, what chance do I have?”

Mr Hirst also answered a question posed by a caller who said they had been spiked while on nights out in Essex.

They said they had been "unlucky enough" to be spiked while in clubs and claimed little action was taken by managers upon reporting the incidents.

They added: "It would nice if there was more concern around safety in night clubs and night outs."

In response, Mr Hirst vowed to do more.

He said: "Spiking clearly is an issue and if you have an experience of that then the police need to know.

“We take it very seriously, we have specific programmes in place to try and make sure we can stop it.

“If people don’t think they are being taking seriously then that’s not the response we want to have.

“We are very committed to reducing violence against women and girls and that is one of the big priorities in my plan.

“Spiking is definitely one of the elements of my plan to deal with violence against women and girls.”

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