Solent puts crime conference on camera

For the very first time, Hampshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner’s bi-monthly conference with Hampshire Constabulary was filmed in front of a live studio audience at Southampton Solent University last December.

Students from the university hosted, filmed and produced Hampshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner’s bi-monthly conference with Hampshire Constabulary’s Chief Constable Andy Marsh in one of the university’s state-of-the-art television studios.

The conference known as COMPASS meeting (Commissioner’s Performance, Accountability, Scrutiny and Strategy meeting) is a series of regular county-wide meetings that seeks to cover a range of issues and to discuss the force's performance with Chief Constable Andy Marsh.

Commissioner Simon Hayes said: “The COMPASS meetings have been set up for me to publicly hold the Chief Constable to account as people have a right to hear how their local police force is performing. This was the fourth COMPASS meeting, but the first one that was open to the general public, and I am glad students and residents made use of this great opportunity.

“I was particularly impressed by the professionalism and expertise displayed by the students who filmed and produced the meeting. The production was very well managed.”

An audience of media professionals, councillors, city council staff, students and the wider community were invited to sit in on the discussion. Solent staff and students filmed the conference to make it available to a wider audience on the police commissioner’s website.

Programme Group Leader for News Journalism at Southampton Solent University, Alan Geere organised the filming of the conference. He said: “This is a wonderful opportunity for our students across a range of disciplines, from journalism to film-making, to take part in an important public event. It gives them valuable experience of handling a public event with high-profile guests and reinforces Solent's commitment to working with the wider media community.”

As well as filming the event for the Police and Crime Commissioner, Solent University was praised by the chief constable for its community work in schools. Staff and students from Sport Solent have been heavily involved in running extra-curricular workshops to divert children away from crime and encourage sport and healthy living.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           During the conference, the Police Crime Commissioner discussed the current policing priorities for the region and debated how to get communities to work together more closely to ensure a good service to all residents.

In the audience was Sophie Petrucci, third year BA (Hons) Law student and special constable, who said: “I’m specialising in policing on my degree course at Solent and this event gives us the opportunity to hear from the commissioner and the chief constable."

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT THE MEDIA OFFICE ON 023 8031 9040 or press.office@solent.ac.uk

Notes to editors:

About Southampton Solent University
Southampton Solent offers more than 23,000 students over 200 qualifications ranging from HND to PhD, in subjects such as maritime education and training, fashion and design, media and television, music, health, sport and leisure, business, IT and technology. The university was awarded the 2013 Quality Assurance kitemark for quality and standards of teaching and learning. Solent was voted one of the most creative universities in the UK in a Which? University 2013 poll of students.

About Hampshire’s Police and Crimes Commissioner
Simon Hayes is the first ever Police and Crime Commissioner for Hampshire, having been elected in November 2012. Prior to the election, Simon was the Chairman of Crimestoppers for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, the charity dedicated to preventing crime. He is also a past Chairman of Hampshire Police Authority and has been the Leader of New Forest District Council and a County Councillor for Hampshire. Simon studied criminology and social policy, for which he holds a BSc degree, and has worked as a criminologist with an interest in preventing re-offending.

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