New Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner Charlotte Chirico has officially taken up her role and is eager to make a difference to the communities of Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.
Born and bred in Melton, Leicester City fan Charlotte (also known as Charlie) will be working with Police and Crime Commissioner Rupert Matthews and his team to support the delivery of his Police and Crime Plan 2024-29. She was welcomed into role earlier this month following approval of her appointment by the Police and Crime Panel.
Miss Chirico, the granddaughter of a local dairy farmer, grew up in Melton and attended John Ferneley High School and Upper School, now known as John Ferneley College.
Passionate about all things Melton - including its famous pork pies - several of Miss Chirico's family members have been councillors or mayors of Melton over the past century while her Great Aunt Ethel owned the first sweet shop in the town.
Miss Chirico has been fascinated by crime her whole life. Following her post graduate diploma in Law, she moved to London to focus on criminal law. This saw her visiting offenders in prison to understand how they could be better supported through their custodial sentence and on release. After this experience, she completed her training contract, qualifying in Criminal Defence, and immediately joined the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
During her five years of service at the CPS, Miss Chirico served as a District Crown Prosecutor in various areas of the South East and London. Through her meetings with thousands of victims and witnesses, and time spent leading a crown court and magistrates court team, as well as observing countless matters in court, she realised how stressful being a victim of crime could be with victims waiting far too long for justice and this is something she desperately wants to change.
She said: "In my new role, I hope to remedy these issues and relieve pressures on our local criminal justice system by reducing the caseload backlogs and improving the victim journey.
"Importantly, I want a victim-centred approach. I want to prioritise our vulnerable victims, particularly child victims and witnesses whose first experience of the criminal justice system can be a very challenging time in their life at such a formative age.
"I also want people to feel safe in their communities. We have national issues affecting us locally, like prison overcapacity. The only way we can remedy this is by all partners working together to improve the victim experience and finding innovative solutions to reduce pressure on a thinly stressed system.
"I am passionate about problem solving and even though I've only just got started, I'm ready to rock and roll!"
Miss Chirico entered local politics in 2014 after joining the Conservative party and soon found herself elected as a unitary councillor in Wimbledon, taking a seat on two scrutiny boards; the Children's and Young Scrutiny Panel and Joint Consultative Committee with Ethnic Minority Considerations. She was also as a parliamentary candidate in 2017 for Bethnal Green and Bow and remains a voluntary officer in her local Melton and Syston Conservative Association.
In other experience, Miss Chirico attended police force meetings across Surrey, Sussex and London South to review performance data and provide solutions to inadequate data performance.
Miss Chirico's new role as Deputy PCC will see her applying her experience to strengthen the voice of victims and witnesses of crime.
She will chair and collaborate with the Local Criminal Justice Board and drive forward the Commissioner's plans to combat Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG).
The PCC is keen to further develop activity that ensures the lived experience of victims is embedded through his commissioning processes and believes Miss Chirico's insight will bring value to this work.
