These are the crimes in Mid Sussex that will be targeted as more officers join the force

That was the message from Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne at the Haywards Heath Annual Town Meeting on Monday night (March 11).

Mrs Bourne, who lives in the district, told the Middy: “People are going to be paying a bit more in their local council tax for policing – it will be an extra £2 a month if you are in an average band D property – but what that means is Sussex Police is able to recruit in a way that they haven’t done for at least ten years.

"We will be recruiting an additional 250 police officers, 100 PCSOs and 50 specialist investigators. This is across the whole county so the decision will be for district commanders to decide how many officers and PCSOs and where they go.

"But overall the news is good because it does show that numbers are starting to increase and that has got to be a positive.”

She said the focus was on more visible policing, but officers were also needed to investigate complex crimes like child exploitation and abuse, trafficking, slavery, terrorism and serious sexual offences.

While there was not an ‘undue increase in knife crimes’, Mrs Bourne said police were working with schools to educate young people on the dangers of knives.

She added: “I think the crimes around here that matter to people are burglaries and thefts, and certainly we are starting to come into the summer months now and the advice is be careful, lock up your house, because we do know that thieves are operating in the area, cruising around, and so we need to be quite vigilant, but no more than you would normally expect at this time of year.”

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