The rape and murder of Sarah Everard - an entirely innocent young woman who was simply walking home at night - would rightly have been appalling in any circumstances. The fact that Wayne Couzens was a serving police officer makes his evil crime even more shocking, further compounded by the fact that he used his trusted position as a constable to perpetrate these vile acts.

Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) for Thames Valley, Matthew Barber, has today [2/9] unveiled plans to commit £7.72million over the next three years to support the work of Community Safety Partnerships.

Having set out his vision for tackling crime in his Police & Criminal Justice Plan earlier this summer, Matthew has highlighted the need to work in partnership with communities and local councils to tackle issues of neighbourhood crime and anti-social behaviour.

Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Barber has awarded an additional £166,937 Ministry of Justice funding to organisations supporting victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence.

The Government has confirmed that a bid for an additional £800,000 to fund youth intervention programmes in Oxfordshire has been secured by the Thames Valley Violence Reduction Unit.

Newly released figures show that 269 police officers have been recruited in Thames Valley as part of the Conservative Government’s pledge to put 20,000 more officers on the streets by 2023.

Today’s announcement by the Government of a renewed commitment to tackle neighbourhood crime and improve community safety across the country has been welcomed by Thames Valley’s Police & Crime Commissioner, Matthew Barber.

The new “Beating Crime Plan” being unveiled by the Prime Minister today sets out a strong end-to-end vision – from tackling serious violence and high harms, to driving down neighbourhood crime, to tackling anti-social behaviour and includes a range of measures to support PCCs and local forces to make communities safer.