Beware of ticket sale scammers
I HOPE all of you who celebrate Easter had a lovely time with your family and friends over the long bank holiday weekend.
As we get closer to summer, many people are looking forward to attending local and national sporting, comedy and music events. Unfortunately, unscrupulous ticket sellers prey on people’s excitement for such shows for their own financial gain.
I urge people to be vigilant when buying tickets as new national figures reveal over £6.7 million was lost to ticket fraud in 2022. In the same year, Action Fraud received over 7,088 reports of ticket fraud, with 138 reports coming from Avon and Somerset residents.
As part of their latest awareness campaign, Action Fraud is working with the Society of Ticket Agents and Retailers (STAR) to promote the safe and secure purchasing of tickets to events and advises the public to follow the appropriate preventative measures. These include only buying from official promoters and ticket agents, be wary of messages offering unbelievably good deals and avoid paying for tickets by bank transfers. Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
Last week marked the first anniversary of the launch of the Identifying Disproportionality in Avon and Somerset Criminal Justice System (CJS).
The independent report was authored by independent chair Desmond Brown, who conducted a twoyear deep-dive review into the local Criminal Justice System (CJS) partner agencies to investigate racial disproportionality.
Lots of work is being done to set up a programme under the Local Criminal Justice Board (LCJB), a group of senior leaders from all the partner agencies of which I am chair.
The Chief Constable is leading the steering committee to deliver the recommendations. It’s vital to work in partnership and implement real and lasting change so that communities feel a difference in how they are treated when they encounter the CJS, whether that is as a victim, a witness or a perpetrator.
I’ll keep you updated on the progress of this important work that aims to build trust, confidence, and legitimacy in policing and the wider CJS, particularly in communities impacted by race inequality where trust and confidence is low.
On Wednesday, we held another monthly Performance and Accountability Board (PAB), which focused on Avon and Somerset Police’s latest assessment by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS).
HMICFRS Police Effectiveness, Efficiency and Legitimacy Inspection (PEEL) is the most important assessment that members of the public see regarding how their local policing service is performing. When the PEEL inspection grades were announced last month, I was delighted that Avon and Somerset Police had been graded outstanding for their work in “engaging with and treating the public with fairness and respect”.
However, I was aware that local people wanted to know how the policing service will sustain this work and, most importantly, improve in the areas that have been highlighted as still requiring improvement.
Such areas include investigating crime, recording data about crime, responding to the public and managing offenders. I asked Chief Constable Sarah Crew what urgent steps are being taken to make positive changes in these work areas.
If you missed this month’s meeting, our new version of PAB allows you to watch it back via the link on Facebook.