Your VIP: Tackling hate crime in our communities

In this episode, Devon County Councillor Syed Jusef, a hate crime advisor to Devon & Cornwall Police, speaks to host Ben Woolvin about he helps the police and his community in North Devon on issues of racial equality.

We also hear from members of the public about what they want from policing, and from Inspector Andy Wills and Barnstaple Town Councillor Ashraf Shah about safety in the town, and Police and Crime Commissioner Alison Hernandez responds to issues including 101 contact performance.

Transcript

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Hello, and welcome to your VIP. Your voice in policing. I'm Ben Woolvin, and in this episode, we're talking about hate crime and community cohesion with our very important person, Councillor Syed Yousef. Just before we hear from Syed, who is, incidentally, a police force hate crime advisor, we've been talking to people here in Barnstaple about what life is like round here and about hate crime. My name is Mohammed. I'm living in Barnstaple from last year. I do the, customer service, on the fuel station. And I am also working in the, delivery section as well. I came from Pakistan, so I'm feeling very happy here to live with my wife as well. So I am feeling very safe and secure in this city. So there is, a lot of people helping, supporting, And I love this city. I'm Graham. I'm on holiday in Barnstable I've been here before many times. It's all right. But seem to be shutting a lot of the shops. All of the shops seem to be shutting. So every time I come there’s another shop gone. It's looking a bit more run down than it used to be, but it's still very nice in parts. I've been visiting now for all my life, Really, because I've got relatives in Devon, in North Devon. Yeah. I'm Hiyo, I live in Barnstaple. I've been living here for the last two years or thereabouts. Living in Barnstaple has been great. Has been nice. Of course, we've got a lot of beaches around here as well. And then the weather, you know, it's very, very conducive. You know, yeah. I work in the hospital as a GP registrar, and I enjoy the atmosphere for the time being. I'm Andy Wills, sector inspector for Barnstaple up here in North Devon. Barnstaple is the largest, urban area in, northern Devon. And the entire 50% of the north of the county. It's a busy location and obviously consistent with that. Sometimes you do experience, issues with social behaviour that can be individuals or sometimes groups of people. We're very proactive about getting a grip of those issues with our, local policing team. It's a great place to work and live. And we've got a really close team of offices up here, and you can imagine we're somewhere up the link road from the slightly more developed and sort of Mid Devon Exeter area. So the group of people that work together up here, have to function well together and do and we've got a really, really effective local policing teams get a real grip of sort of priority and, you know, consistent issues that need real focus. My name is Ashraf Shah. I'm a town councillor, I run business as well in Barnstaple. I came from London in 1989, in Devon, and it is a good town. It was a very small town. Now is growing up. It looks better now. It's more people in this town. I don't think we have any much problem, but we do have a good service of police and everything. Hello and welcome to your VIP. Your Voice In Policing. Our mobile studio is in Barnstaple today, and our very important person is Councillor Syed Jusef. Welcome. And thank you very much indeed for joining us in our mobile studio. Thank you very much for inviting me. My pleasure to be here. I'm one of your hosts, Ben Woolvin, and our other host, Alison Hernandez, the police commissioner, is sadly not able to be with us for this part of the recording. But she does send our very best wishes to you, Councillor Jusef. what about Barnstaple then? How long have you been here and what do people need to know? Well, I have been living in North Devon about what, about 20 years, almost about 25 years. And Barnstable, I was living about nearly 20 years. So I'm live quite long down here. And, how have you seen the place change? It's so much now. Diverse. When I came first here, it's rare you can see any diverse ethnic minority people in here, but now it's wider because of the people working in the hospital, factories, taxi drivers and so many other sectors. So it's quite diverse now. And tell us, how does it work being an independent advisor to the police, what do you do? Well, that's the job basically, to police want to get more closer to minority people, the victims, especially to get help from the police. and I do a lot, work for the minority people that time for their safety concern and especially their, language barrier. Sometimes they can't speak English, sometimes they can speak English, but they don't feel that comfortable. So they come to me and I do as a reporting, third party reporting, on behalf of them. Okay. So you can help people to report a crime and tell them what the police need to know. Absolutely, absolutely. You're also a councillor. You've been a councillor for quite some time now, have you? Oh, yes, since 2019. I first become a town councillor, and, I win the majority by public vote, then, I become second time elected again town councillor in 2023. And first time I become a first minority background, from the Muslim background, as a district councillor for North Devon District Council, and in 2025 with a huge majority, I've become a county councillor the first time. When you say huge. Oh yes, because it's a huge, it's a majority. Okay. And you feel proud of that? Absolutely. Because this is the people show me the love and respect, you know, and they appreciate it. They don't look who you are. It's a public vote, you know. And this is a county election is second largest election, than the general election. Some people may have seen that last year. In 2025, you put a motion before Devon County Council. What was that motion and why did you do that? Well, it was zero tolerance to hate crime and it wasn't an easy subject to bring in county level. But I've been really brave enough and I was confident people will support me. And the reason is because it's becoming that diverse community, and a good number of people work in hospital, care home, taxi drivers, delivery drivers and in factories, industries. So good number of minority people living in North Devon. And I thought it was very essential to bring the subject to bring that motion to county, county level for their safety. And that's why I bring that in county council. And I was successful. So the motion passed. And what did the motion actually say? Can you remember how it was worded?

Yeah, it was worded like: 6:44

The minority people deserve to get respect. because they're working hard. They're living here legally. They're paying the tax. They are contributing our economy locally, nationally, and they should be deserve better treated. Let's talk about hate crime because you do advise the police on hate crime. We've got some statistics and, Let's look at those hate crime statistics what do you make of those numbers? Well, I think this is not the correct number. Is is more higher than that number So you think that the real picture is actually quite a lot worse Absolutely. It's a lot higher than that. What do you think could be done about it? We all have to forget about the politics and all this. We all have to work together because end of the day, we are human. All human being and we, if we work together, we can get a lot better and safer our community for everyone. What are you personally doing to try and to try and make it better? Well, that's the, my message all the time to to everyone in my community. You know, we, this don't make any difference. You know what your colour, what your gender, what your race. You know, we all human being and we should work together, live together and love each other and make it a better and safer community. That is my message all the time to people. This podcast, Your VIP, Your Voice in Policing, it comes from the office of the Police and Crime Commissioner. Have you got a message to Alison Hernandez about what, if anything, the police commissioner, what she can do to help. my message to she, to look for the some more police for our areas, you know, more like, get some CCTV cameras, because we have very limited CCTV cameras in Barnstaple, What what specifically could the police do on making people from ethnic minority backgrounds feel safer, do you think? Well, the police I think police are very supportive to minority people. There's no doubt about it. You know, they we often do a local police reference group every quarterly meeting from Middlemoor, and there is all background people in there from from the gay people, from the disabled people, from the minority people. So myself, is there. So police trying their best to support to minority people and they're very supportive. What would you say to someone who is listening to you talk and they are worried about contacting the police? the language language barrier make them nervous and they don't know what to do, how to report, and if they're going to report, you know, how far it will go. They have to go to court. And all this procedure, system, they they feel nervous. So often they come contact with me and I do behalf of them. As a third party reporting on behalf of victim. You're listening to Your Voice in Policing. We're in Barnstaple with Councillor Syed Jusef, who is a hate crime advisor to the police. And you've been doing that for ten years. Councillor Jusef, how have you seen the police approach change in that time? Would you say? Well, when I started, the police was basically that time wasn't that diverse in the community in here, but now it's day by day it's getting more diverse because of all the people from abroad. They come in to work in the hospital because we majority of the hospital staff are from overseas countries. You know, from Asia, Africa and other countries. So used to be it wasn't police that much work or support needed because it wasn't minority people down here. But now it's it's getting gradually getting higher. And the police have taken more time and more, effort to support to minority people in here. That's what I can see the change from. There are more engagement with the minority people than before. And that's really thanks to Devon & Cornwall Police. And one of the people we've been speaking to here in North Devon is the police inspector, who explained the role he has in having oversight of all hate crime cases. So, in common with much of the country, hate crime here is is a real issue is a genuine issue, but it's not a particular issue. So, last year, once again in Barnstable, we recorded, 53, hate crimes in the previous year. 54. So more or less a consistent level. Governance processes around that include a review of all reported hate crimes. And, each day. So we get a download each morning the previous 24 hours reporting, which we review individually to make sure that our responses, is appropriate. It's obviously a very sensitive, issue within communities. We all want to live in a cohesive community, and sometimes world events can lead to tensions being expressed locally, which, shouldn't affect us as neighbours and with children, families who attend the same schools and workplaces. How do you find your relationship with that police inspector? Well, I think Andy Wills, he is a really, really good inspector. Very supportive. He respond really good. And I would like to say thank you to him. What about the broader picture then? You are a councillor as well as being a hate crime advisor to the police. What do people that you represent tell you that they need from the police? Well, because my engagement as a councillor, I often see the our resident, in this area and I often I do doorknocking to people ask people any issues, any problem So people just respond like, you know, they need more police on the street, they need more quicker response from the police and the easy access to get to the police and the also that concern the police never get the right figure of the crime because of the reporting system. It's not that great. When's the last time you had to use the 101 reporting system? The last time I did used about a month ago. And did you phone or did you use the online form? I did both actually. I did phone first and it's takes me about 45 minutes. I've been waiting and I just give up. Then I choose to do it on online because I don't do, you know, had enough time in my hand. And I can understand now the public concern and about how long it takes time so people don't bother and just give up and it's crime is getting dropped. Things are better now when you look at the statistics than they used to be. Have you noticed any improvement, do you think? Yes, slightly improved. Slightly improved because used to on beginning when they start it wasn’t an online reporting system. But now they get an online reporting system. And not everyone's aware. But there is also the possibility of using the app called police UK. Have you come across that have you recommended that to people? Yes I did, I do recommend to people, you know and I said might you can get more easy access on that way. You know, and less time consuming as well you know. So I do tell people. And when you, are talking to people in the community, what do you say to them about the police? Well, I always say good things about police, actually, positive things, you know, but it's still when I talk to positive that people, people then point out, like, you know, well, it's need to be more improved, especially the reporting system. And we want more police on the street. Everyone seems to want more police on the street. Yes. We've recently heard from the government about the plans they have to change the police. What do you think of those plans? Well, I'm not very much agree with that. You know, I think, how it is now is better, you know. You are Councillor Syed Jusef. You are our Very Important Person. And we've also been meeting one of your fellow town councillors, asking him what he thinks of life in Barnstaple. The crime is quite good. It's not too high, better than other places, We had last few days a bit of a, protest going on in this square with the flag and everything. I don't understand what the British flag presents. Is it present the party, or is it present the country? Union flag is a Union flag. These countries, countries representing flag. It's not a political agenda, is it? It shouldn't be making it political. I've been to Chessington last time. Every lamppost has a England flag. I don't understand why. Now, this is the country I've been living for the last 50 odd years, nearly, I am the second generation, my children, is a third generation. My grandchild is a fourth generation. Coming. It's the best country in the world, I believe, for the multi-faith and multicultural country this is. racism is not a place in this country. There is no no place for this. Ashraf was concerned there about a protest that happened here in the town square quite recently. Can you tell us about that? Oh, yes. The protest, it was about that racism, obviously, you know, to support the minority people. And it was a huge gathering the people in here supporting for the minority people against the racism. So you saw two protest groups, did you. Yes, yes. a racist definition is a ignorant and uneducated people and you can only count them, there's only few people and majority people understand that love each other. You know they care about minority people, but the how hardworking minority people in here, you know, so people appreciate for that. So I don't either take that serious about some of the protest. There are only few people you can count them. Your fellow town councillor was talking there as well about flags and what he thinks when he sees the Union flag. What do you think when you see it being flown? Well, we all respect the flag. Our flag is for everyone. Flag is not for just one particular people or particular group. You know, we all love the flag. This is our national flag, you know. And we all fight for that flag. For example, if we play cricket, football, whatever, we all united for that flag, you know. So the flag is not just for a particular people or group, you know, flag for all of us. What do you see your role as being as a councillor in trying to kind of get that message out there. respect the flag, you know, flag don't just put on, lamppost because number one is, is is quite serious. You know, if you're putting the flag on that, you're putting your life on the risk because that lamppost is not designed to put flag on there, the lamppost, make for the light, you know, the flag you to put for the flag post, you know, That's the recent story on the November time in Bristol, somebody died because when they putting the flag on the lamppost. So not to take life on the risk, you know, and make the flag for the real purpose, real reason. You're a Devon County Councillor, as well as being a town councillor and a district councillor. But Devon County Council recently took down some of those flags, didn’t they, in the Exeter area. What did you make of that? You know, absolutely, because it's a public safety concern, because when you putting the flag on the, on the lamppost, you know, you're getting distracted at the lights, you know, And I think county council did the right decision for that. But they were put back again, weren't they. Quite soon afterwards I think. Absolutely. They putting it back, you know, and they're taking their life on the risk. Is this something you've thought about a lot? I mean, have you got any ideas as to how how we can kind of resolve this tension that we see over flags? Well, absolutely. As I said earlier, you know, think more widely and broadly. You know, like we all one human race, you know, that is not to make it divide the people like, oh, you are black and I'm a white, you know. End of the day we all are one, you know. On flags specifically though, is there anything that can be done, do you think, to try and move us into a, a place where people feel less sensitive, less intimidated, more together on this issue? Well, absolutely. It's you can put in your own house or on your own garden or front garden or back garden, you know, instead of putting on a public place. You know, if you really want to put the flag in, you put in a flag in your house, that's no problem, you know. And what do people tell you about how it makes them feel when they see those flags? Well, they're obviously they think is is a dividing because the people are putting the flag. It never was. You know, I've been living in UK 27 years, more than half of my life in here. You know, I never saw the flag or putting on the lampposts. Just recently I'm seeing because this is all the intention of the divide, you know. And that is the main reason, because some of the political people are just trying to get benefit out of it. What keeps you going then, as a councillor, how how hopeful are you, for the future? Well, I'm I'm absolutely positive. And my intention is my best to do for my community. And I serve to my community, and I'm looking forward to continue to serve with my community. Councillor Syed Jusef, thank you so much for being our Very Important Person. Thank you so much for coming I really appreciate it. So our mobile studio is back at police headquarters, and we've been joined by the police commissioner, Alison Hernandez. And we're going to talk there about what we just heard from Councillor Jusef. So, Councillor Jusef saying he'd like to hear from you on this issue of how much time it takes to get through on 101. Yeah. And I was I was quite sad to hear that because, we've even been taking all the performance reports on, on public contact to the Police and Crime Panel that scrutinises my work. And we've actually had a letter of commendation from them to the chief constable for the efforts of the improved performance of 101. So it shouldn't really take longer than five minutes on average to get through on 101. So, I just want to reassure people that unless there's a major crisis, like a storm in Cornwall or floods in Devon, largely, it's quite easy to get through on the phone lines today. But also, let's not forget we've opened loads of police enquiry offices as well from, you know, from Ilfracombe to Penzance. So there's lots more opportunities to go into a police station and ask for help. And there's also been a much more improved national standardisation of how you report online. So doesn't matter where you are in the country, it'll look the same trying to report to the police. And I filled out those forms on behalf of other people, and they don't take that literally a few minutes to fill in. Okay. Well, we have been looking at some of the numbers, and it's true to say that the average waiting time on 101 is around three minutes. I think now we've got some more of the numbers here. What about the advice for people who, are trying to report a crime when English isn't their first language? Well, there's a few options. Firstly, you still should be able to use the normal routes in which to access policing. Because if you turned up at a police station and you needed help, they would try and help you in whatever way possible. And, you know, it happens in schools. One of the really simplest ways that people can do is use translate through an iPhone or an iPad, and that's how they do it in schools with children whose English isn't a first language. And I think most people are sort of comfortable and aware of how that works. But also this third party reporting centres. So something people can report on behalf of other people who are finding it difficult, you know, if somebody is, blind or struggling to actually access some of the services, there's also people who can help them do it. So ask a friend, ask a relative, and you can do it on their behalf. Councillor Jusef also talking about officer numbers and police visibility. What are your thoughts on that? Well, we’ve still got 3,610 police officers, which is the most we've had. And we've maintained for a few years now. We've had an uplift from the government for Police Community Support Officers this past year. So we've been recruiting massively across the two counties. So they should start, and some of them have already landed in communities. But the Chief Constable is really trying to make sure that officers are not left with vacancies on that response, we call it patrol in policing, but response and neighborhood function. He's making sure that we're pushing officers all the time to be replaced if they're moving out or there's vacancies. So, that should actually start bolstering the frontline, too. So there's been a lot of visibility over the last two years because we've had hotspot policing from the government, which has basically paid overtime for police officers to do no work other than patrol, as a job, and do it over a particular period of time, in particular geographies where crime is high. That was dictated to us by the government, where those geographies were. And it's about 13 in total across Devon and Cornwall. So we've had a lot of positive feedback from those communities. Barnstaple is one of them that's recognize that they've seen great visibility of police officers. And also I've part funded hours for street marshals. So in lots of communities, you'll have seen people who are uniformed council workers who are also patrolling the streets, who can do some of the civil functions as well. So there's been a lot of positive feedback about that hotspot policing, but we haven't received the money for that this year. So we're going to have to work out how do we build proper proactive patrol and visibility into business as usual policing, What about CCTV? We know that's something else Councillor Jusef would like to see more of. I've been here ten years. I've been investing in CCTV over multiple years. And really tried to help councils match fund them or help them with an investment to expand their schemes and update their schemes. But we've literally just done about 60 grant agreements that have gone out of my office, to the value of around £300,000 to help a lot more communities. And some of that is on council buildings, some of that is on private buildings. And some of that is been very much driven by local people wanting to be able to collect the evidence or use it as a deterrent, to stop people committing crime in their communities. Is there any more money left for communities you might want to put in an application? At the moment there isn't. And I'm sad to say that the funding settlement that we got from the government, was less than we were expecting. And I know local authorities have all suffered the same. We've got they all got less than they were expecting. So, we've got £3.1 million funding gap at the moment. It's actually nearer £10 million. But I've got a plan for 6.6 of that. So I already was expecting to do efficiencies. But we've got £3.1 million funding gap. And I think until I've got the plan seen around that, there will be a lot things that may well be stopped this year or I'm unable to do because we need to use it to fill that gap. Okay, you're listening to Your VIP, Your Voice in Policing, and we, got some other voices to share with you now, because this is people we spoke to in Barnstaple about policing. And we'd like you, Commissioner, to to hear some of what they had to say. I don't know much about the crime in this area, but because I work in the hospital, oftentimes I see patients that are brought in by the police. Person that I would in their custody just to, you know, have them, medically observed and then examined to see whether they are fit even to go back to them, to their custody. You know, they come patients, there's a mental health problems and then people that engaged in fight and all that come in with head injuries. So we need to assess probably do a head CT scan just to make sure there's no bleeding. And then to ensure that they're stable even while they're in the police custody. a lot of times I see police vehicle all around, you know, the streets, the roads and all that. So, I mean, yeah, I think it's it's very, very safe. Probably because the police are visibly around and, and it was able to to curtail the crime rates in this particular area. But I think yeah, as far as I know, this place is quite safe. My name is Nathan Palmer. I'm a street marshal. I work for Gardant Group and I'm employed by the council. So I've been working for three years as a street marshal, I liaise with an ASB officer and the police and we help deal with anything from aggressive begging or drug use. So we do welfare checks on on people and hopefully we help them by sending them up to the Freedom Centre. Where up there they've got doctors, nurses, counsellors. They can get clothes and food. So it's just giving them that guidance and then just helping them as best we can. I can't, talk enough about the Freedom Centre, where they do help us so much. we need more resources in this town because it's growing up town nowadays. It's quite big town. When? When I came first, it was a very small town. Hundreds of cars and people. Now I think well over 65, 70,000 people in this town. I believe, there's a lot of new estate coming up. So we need a resource here. So we had that really interesting insight from a hospital doctor who sees police officers sitting alongside detainees who are having medical treatment. This is something that's come up quite a few times. Hasn't the amount of police time that is spent sitting alongside people having medical treatment? It is and we've we've there's there's a few issues there. Firstly, it's their responsibility to make sure that someone is okay if they're in, you know, police custody and in police custody can mean arrested in their presence. You're still detained in some way, by the police. So the risk of that individual is, is down to the police officers. So we obviously want them to make sure that those individuals are okay. Sometimes that means taking them to hospital. Sometimes it means because they need an assessment in some way, they might have hit their head in the scuffle. There may have been a scuffle to get to the arrest. And often they may even bang their own heads or try and do things in the back of the police vans in order to get to go to hospital rather than the custody suite. So we know these things happen. We did trial a few things through our summer policing, innovations that we tried a few years ago. We did attempt at something called Bedwatch, which was actually to help fund the hospitals through their security guards to actually be able to let, since always two officers that will be with a, with an arrested, person, is to enable one of those officers to go back on duty and the security guard take over. It's been quite inconsistent. It didn't really work that well, but we're really trying to resurrect that, ready for the summer again, Also interesting to hear that from the street marshal about just how important the Freedom Centre in Barnstaple is for the work that they do, and that's a place where they can take people, vulnerable people sometimes who need to access lots of different support services all in one place. Yeah. And I think that's where we're all starting to go, I think across Devon and Cornwall. Devon, Cornwall have got their health and wellbeing hubs that they've created and this really does help street attached people, those who are a bit disconnected from services to be able to go into a safe space where they'll be welcomed, where they won't be pushed away and actually enable them to get that support. And the Freedom Centre is very similar to that as well. we've got some fantastic work going on, but it's not always in the right places or close enough for everybody to access. So I think if we could expand that, I'd love to see that in South Devon a lot more. We did have some really great things in Exeter, but you know, things and funding keep changing. I'd love to see, that expansion across the whole of the county, I know. Yes, it's Co-Lab in Exeter is a similar service, isn't it? Which is really effective. Co-Lab is excellent. But there are some challenges around, multiple agencies and multiple charities. All are willing to help but actually not coordinated. And things like Colab help coordinate that help for those individuals. And and they need that help because they can't do it themselves. They're often a bit chaotic because of their drug use or their mental health challenges that they might be facing, or they're street attached and homeless and they don't know what time of day it is at the point at which they might have been needing to be at an appointment. So those types of centres are invaluable. And I should say as well, we didn't set up that interview with the street marshal. He was just walking past the van as we were parked up in the middle of Barnstaple there. And so it does fit with what you were saying earlier about street marshals being a big part of the policing picture there. Yeah. And, thank the street marshal, because I know I've had some really good feedback in Barnstable with the local policing team, have been out really proactively catching prolific shoplifters, and dealing with the issues that have been affecting people on the streets in Barnstable. The last thing I wanted to put to you was the concern we had there from the town councillor about increasing population and saying, you know, how would they be able to cope with with more and more people wanting to live and work in Barnstaple, they feel like they need more police. Well, it's quite fascinating, isn't it? We've got more police officers than we've ever had before, but we haven't got more police officers per head of population than we've ever had before. So we haven't managed to actually increase the ratio. So there's some challenge there around. How many police officers does it take to have a visible, high profile police force? If I ask the chief Constable that there's never a right number, can tell you that for sure. They always need. More, they always need more, and they'll always want more. But there's always more to do. And, you know, police officers can be quite self-directed as well. And we just get on, find work and get things done. It's one of their many talents, actually. They often lead when no one else will in a community that's struggling. But what I will say is, we do look at the population estimates and we also work with local authorities when they're planning applications in for large housing developments. And we've had a number of negotiations over the years, like the Sherford development near Plymouth, the Cranbrook development near Exeter, just around. Does it does it require a greater police presence? Does it require an actual new police office or something station to be involved in that development? All I will say is that policing gets no capital money from the government whatsoever. So everything that we do is it will have to be borrowed. And I do borrow money in order to get things done, but we don't have any capital allocation. Secondly, on those big developments, you people have heard of things like a section 106 and, the only element and this is a recent development, by the way, in the last few years, we can actually access some of that as policing, but it's only for uniforms and equipment and kit. It's not for buildings, it's not for vehicles. It is literally for small things. So it's not enough to push you over the edge and you say, oh, we could afford to do something there, because suddenly we've come into some money. That's really interesting. And just for those that aren't familiar, section 106 money is money that a developer has to pay, essentially in exchange for getting planning permission, isn't it, to deliver new housing and it's. Towards the infrastructure that supports the development. So, a lot of councils so often sit on their 106 money and it doesn't get drawn down. So that might be something local people might be interested to know is where's all this? Section 106 money that comes from these developments. And this is, of course, a time of really big change in policing. And so those questions about how many officers each community has are going to be really at the forefront, aren't they the of the discussion that we see over the next year or two? Well, I'm really keen to ensure that all of us across Devon, Cornwall, in the Isles of Scilly secure as much resource as possible from policing in all of the changes that are happening, some of the changes that are happening in national that won't particularly or directly affect us for the next, well, ten years, even some of what's happening nationally, But fundamentally the next direction of travel is the regional police force. And we don't want to lose the 43%, particularly council taxpayer funded part of Devon and Cornwall Police to move up the region to go and help Bristol or go and do somewhere else. We don't mind doing mutual aid where they pay us to help them, but we don't want to be losing our resources because we all know the areas that will lose out the most will be our rural areas. Because it's got a lower crime rate, it will be seen as an easy resource to remove compared to those of towns and cities with high crime rates. Alison Hernandez, you're one of the hosts of this podcast. It's called your VIP. And we should say that if you've got an idea for a future very important person, a question that you'd like to ask the Commissioner or a location where you think we should park this mobile studio, which is basically an engagement van, isn't it? We were saying as we got in today, it's it's quite a good resource. This isn't it's a great resource except, you know, freezing. You can say I'm in a scarf and coat, which isn't that warm. But it's really great because it means we do get to go out and speak to people on the street about the issues that are affecting them. And it enables us to, you know, help, you see, what people are saying about policing or crime in their area. So if you do have an idea for one of those things, you should email comms@dc-pcc.gov.uk. 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