Focus groups
Starting in the Autumn of 2018 staff in PCC Katy Bourne's office have been holding focus groups around the county on her behalf.
The aim of these meetings has been to draw out public perceptions and confidence levels about Sussex Police while understanding specific concerns about issues in the local community.
Find out more about the groups held so far underneath the headings below
14 focus groups were run in May 2023 with town and parish councils across Sussex. This autumn a further tranche of discussions will take place with towns and parishes as well as a range of groups across the county to ensure that we reach as diverse a range of participants as possible.
In 2022, a total of 46 focus groups were organised across Sussex by the PCC’s office, reaching 110 different communities from whom we heard views on policing and community safety. We spoke to residents in every urban area as well as numerous small towns and villages right across the county. Sussex Police attended every meeting where they received a range of comments, criticism and praise for their work.
This year our next tranche of focus groups begins in May when we will meet with representatives from town and parish councils throughout Sussex. These discussions are by invitation only, aiming to reach a representative sample of communities in each geographical area whilst keeping the groups at a manageable size. If any council representative reading this would like to attend, please contact us on pcc@sussex-pcc.gov.uk.
The PCC's office would normally run local focus groups and invite residents, councillors and businesspeople to give their views; however, due to Covid 19 restrictions this was not possible for the major part of 2020.
Instead, consultations took place with town and parish councils across Sussex in lieu of the focus groups that would normally be held. The areas were chosen to represent a microcosm of the county’s smaller towns and rural areas and the sessions were run with the Sussex & Surrey Association of Local Councils.
By engaging with local councils in these areas, the OSPCC spoke to elected representatives for around 350,000 Sussex residents in:
West Sussex
Billingshurst, Bramber, Broadbridge Heath, Burgess Hill, Chichester, Haywards Heath, Lancing, Littlehampton, Midhurst, Petworth, Pulborough, Rustington, Selsey, Southbourne, Turners Hill, West Wittering and East Wittering & Bracklesham
East Sussex
Barcombe, Battle, Bexhill, Camber, Crowborough, Hailsham, Lewes, Ninfield, Peacehaven, Polegate, Rye, Salehurst & Robertsbridge, Sedlescombe, Telscombe & East Saltdean, Uckfield, Wadhurst
It was agreed that follow-up consultations in the same areas would be held six months later to see whether residents felt there had been any improvements or had seen an increase in police engagement. This set of consultations was held in November and December 2020 over a period of four weeks.
Like our previous focus groups the discussions focused on police engagement with local communities, particularly highlighting: the role of PCSOs; contact with Neighbourhood Policing Teams; and levels of information fed back to local communities by the police.
Additional topics discussed included roads policing, the new rural crime team and the difficulties sometimes experienced in reporting crime.
2018
Two Meet Your PCC events were held in Autumn 2018; a public meeting in East Grinstead and a drop-in event for young parents in Hailsham.
Eleven focus groups were organised across the county: five in West Sussex (Midhurst, Crawley, Arundel, Burgess Hill, Horsham); four in East Sussex (Ticehurst, Uckfield, Eastbourne, Newhaven); and one in Hove.
2019
Two rural crime roundtables have been held so far, both chaired by PCC Katy Bourne; one in Battle and one in Billingshurst as well as a roundtable discussion with the NFU in Lewes.
A public road safety summit was held in Chichester in November with members of the Sussex Safer Roads Partnership, Senior members of Sussex Police and local council members.
A discussion group on local policing issues was also held in Lewes involving representatives from 10 Parish Councils across Sussex.
We have held the following specialist focus groups:
- St Leonards: with members of a disability forum.
- Brighton & Hove: two groups, one with representatives from the LGBT community and one with members of the Racial Harassment Forum
- Crawley: with members of the Interfaith Network
Other focus groups were held in the following areas:
- Bognor Regis
- Uckfield
- Mid Sussex
- Crawley
- Lancing
- Rye
- Ticehurst
- Storrington
- Seaford
- Battle
- Midhurst