Less than half of people in Hertfordshire are aware of the role of the county's Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC), according to a consultation carried out by the PCC's own office, while just 42 per cent have confidence in local policing.

A meeting of Hertfordshire's Police and Crime Panel was held last week, as Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Jonathan Ash-Edwards outlined his priorities in his upcoming Police and Crime Plan.

The meeting, held at East Herts District Council offices on Thursday, November 21, was attended by district councillors from across the county.

Summarising the plan, Mr Ash-Edwards said he was able to give a 'progress update' and 'direction of travel' of the plan, which is still being developed.

PCCs have a legal duty to come up with a Police and Crime Plan, which lays out strategic priorities of policing and which the Chief Constable must consider when leading the force.

Mr Ash-Edwards said: "The big picture is how can we focus on making Hertfordshire a safer place. Obviously, the issues around crime already tell us that what we previously understood about crime rates is not quite the case, but the objective in the plan is having the county a safe place to live and work.

"In terms of how all that flows through, there's quite a complicated approach that has potentially been made more complicated with reforms the government have announced this week, in terms of national priorities and local priorities."

The PCC was accompanied at the meeting by his director of strategy, Rhiannon Sawyer, who said there had been two public consultations and a business consultation to help guide the plan, while a victims' consultation is currently being conducted.

She added conversations are being held with stakeholders as well as frontline police officers and teams in specific areas, such as missing children and sexual exploitation.

Ms Sawyer said: "Just looking at what the public opinions told us, in general, people feel safe in Hertfordshire, and that's both in general and in their local neighbourhood. However the top three things people are worried about are antisocial behaviour, people using or dealing drugs and obviously the associated harms with that, and violent behaviour.

"And then, there's discussions around being safe in public spaces, issues around unlit areas, and then obviously safety within the home.

"We also got slightly different feedback in term of priorities from the different cohort that came through our own online survey."

Ms Sawyer explained that while one survey was made up of representative samples of the public, respondents to the online survey were mainly from older, white residents, who cited issues such as road safety as a bigger priority than in the other survey.

She added: "There were other bits around installing more visible patrols, seeing police in their neighbourhoods, seeing police in their town centres, and seeing police in visible crime hotspots.

"Forty two percent [of people] said they have confidence in police in their area, and just under half of people said they're aware of the police and crime commissioner and the role of the police and crime commissioner."

Residents living in areas far from police stations are reported to have reacted positively to local police patrols, which have helped them feel safe.