Avon and Somerset’s Police and Crime Commissioner Clare Moody visited Somerset Youth Parliament in September, to introduce herself, talk about her role and discuss her concern about misogyny (linking to so called male ‘role models on social media), the rise in sexual violence, violence against women and girls, and domestic violence.
Clare also spoke about the rise in hate crime and racism on the back of recent anti-immigration pretests. Clare talked about a particular area of the troubling rise in antisemitism. This could be hate rising from the Palestine/Israel atrocities but whatever people’s views there’s no excuse for inciting hatred against people because of their identity.
Clare’s background in Human Rights was evident in her assertive perspective on an increasing and worrying lack of compassion and social dehumanising of others to gain leverage of power, popularity and greed to assert a dominant gender, race or religion.
FREE Resource education programme for schools and teachers!
Perhaps Clare’s Human Rights background in part, gives some insight into her funding of the new ‘Pol Ed’ programme for all schools, it’s been designed to:
‘Help keep children safe by building their understanding of risk, consequences and the law.’
‘The programme gives teachers free access to a wide range of resources, including dedicated support, worksheets and more than 400 lesson plans. These cover topics such as exploitation, consent and wellbeing, as well as anti-social behaviour, hate crime and what it means to be a responsible citizen. The programme is fully aligned with the PSHE and RSHE curriculum’.
Schools are already using the resource, and Clare would love more schools to have access to the programme. Somerset Youth Parliament will be sharing this in their owns schools and sharing the poster to grab people’s attention. The resource programme is free!
You can find more information on Pol Ed by downloading and sharing these resources:
Police and Crime Commissioners roles to be scrapped by Government 2028!
It was also interesting to find out that the Police and Crime Commissioner roles had been introduced to independently oversee policing from a community perspective and ensure police matters were embedded in communities rather than the police overseeing them. However, these roles will now be scrapped in 2028. The government has made a bold if not controversial decision to save money by handing responsibilities to elected Mayors. The move is claimed to divert money to the taxpayer and the police themselves.
Read about the Government’s plans here.
Any change will divide opinion, but what do you think? How could this impact on policing and communities, crime and freedom? Do you think it’s a good move or not? Let us know!
For more information
You can read more about some of the topics brought up in this article by clicking on the links below:
- Government support for public confidence in the police – House of Commons Library
- The safety of the Jewish community – House of Commons Library
- Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill 2026-27 – House of Commons Library
