Top national award for police commissioner

CHESHIRE Police and Crime Commissioner John Dwyer has won a top award at the National Compact Awards in London.
Mr Dwyer was announced as the winner of the Compact Leadership award, recognising outstanding leadership which has led to improved support for partnership across the voluntary and community sector (VCS).
The award is a culmination of the Commissioner’s wide ranging work across the sector since coming into office.
Since 2012, John Dwyer has shown a strong commitment to working with the voluntary and community sector across Cheshire.
Building on a strong foundation, he has developed relationships with associations and organisations across the county and provided leadership and commitment to the long terms sustainability of the sector.
More than £1.7million investment into the sector has been made by Mr Dwyer so far.
As a result, the capacity within the local voluntary sector to respond to commissioning opportunities has improved; a Compact agreement to ensure that the local sector can play a key role and is valued in providing solutions to crime, community safety and support for victims has been secured, and funding for vital for essential work such as support for survivors of rape and sexual assault has been provided. This is in addition to hundreds of thousands of pounds being invested in all areas of Cheshire into smaller crime prevention projects and grass-roots schemes such as participatory budgeting.
Mr Dwyer said: “Working closely with our partners in the voluntary and community sector enables us to maximise resources and knowledge making us more effective and efficient. It enables me to fulfil my commitments to victims and reduce crime by developing pioneering partnership led initiatives.
“The current financial environment is clearly a challenge but innovative ideas and working together to share knowledge, develop solutions and deliver the best outcomes for our communities means that Cheshire has a police area and a voluntary and community sector to be reckoned with.”