A strong voice for victims of crime
Plaid Cymru candidate aims to be first female PCC in Wales
Cutting crime by prevention is the priority of Ann Griffith, Plaid Cymru's straight-talking candidate to be Police and Crime Commissioner for north Wales.
Ann, who was Deputy PCC for four years under Arfon Jones, has worked for 40 years as a social worker and advocate for victims of crime. She is aiming to be the first female PCC in Wales.
Ann said: "The best way to tackle crime is to stop it happening in the first place. Preventing crime will, therefore, be my focus if I'm elected on May 2nd.
"I understand the trauma that crime causes for victims and know the impact of crime can be long-lasting. I want to be a strong voice for those victims, who can often feel lost in the criminal justice system. My over-riding priority is to make north Wales a safer place for all so that our communities can thrive.
"So much police work these days overlaps other emergency services - in particular mental health and drug and alcohol misuse. That's why my experience of working across public services is vital as we need to work closer with social care, health and other emergency services to improve our response to residents."
Ann was born in Wrexham and lived in Barmouth before moving to Ynys Môn, where she raised her family. She has now returned home to her family home in Barmouth. She added: "My experience in the deputy's job means I will hit the ground running and will be aiming to get stakeholders and Criminal Justice partners to work together to achieve great results. In these difficult times of year-on-year funding cuts to public services, I'll be looking to build strong and lasting relationships across our communities to provide greater opportunities to support all residents, ensuring no-one is forgotten.
"All our communities - whether rural or urban - want reassurance that the police are there when they need them. By ensuring support is available to everyone and all groups in our communities, North Wales Police officers will be able to respond and support our residents more effectively, on the first visit."
In addition to collaboration, Ann will focus on:
- Equality: Ensuring that everyone in Wales feels safe. That everyone has access to the same level of services and support
- Meaningful information :Ensuring that everyone understands what support is available to them, in a way which they understand.
- Determination and challenge:Always constructively challenging North Wales Police, the government, services and other agencies/organisations to achieve more. Don’t accept that ‘it’s always been that way, so why change’ or ‘the problem is too big to tackle’.
- Fit for purpose:Ensure our prevention and protection strategies are ‘fit for purpose’ and actually benefit our residents.
She also said that caring for our frontline police officers has to be a priority: "Of paramount importance is the health and wellbeing of our Police Officers and police staff. If we don’t look after them, they can’t look after you. I'll ensure that each Police Officer and member of staff at North Wales Police receives the best care and support available to them. Facing traumatic incidents and running towards danger on a daily basis takes its toll on their health and their wellbeing is an absolute priority."