I was proud to join residents in a parade through the streets of Newport to celebrate this year’s Pride in the Port. It was a fantastic event, and it was wonderful to see so many people coming from all walks of life to celebrate together.

Pride embodies the values of acceptance, tolerance and respect. These are all crucial for a society to function well and are particularly important in an area like Gwent where we have a growing and diverse population.

I want our communities to be places where everyone can live their lives as themselves, free from fear and harm. This is what we saw on the streets for Pride in the Port, and also the other Pride events we have supported this summer in Abergavenny, Caerphilly and Pontypool. I would like to thank everyone involved in organising these events, and all those who took part and came together to celebrate.

Victims’ Commissioner, Baroness Newlove, hosted a special event for Wales’s four Police and Crime Commissioners this month which included a roundtable discussion on how we can play a crucial role in monitoring local compliance with the Victims’ Code. It was a good opportunity to examine how we can use our position to bring partners together and strengthen the delivery of victims’ rights in Wales.

Improving the support for victims of crime in Gwent was one of the key commitments in my manifesto prior to election, and I am proud to be playing an important part in building a better service for all victims of crime in Wales going forward.

I made my first official visit as commissioner to the Gwent Drug and Alcohol Service (GDAS) headquarters in Newport this month. Drugs and alcohol are often the root cause of much of the crime and antisocial behaviour that we see on our streets but if we can break the cycle of offending, we can create a safer society for us all.

Since 2014 my office has invested more than £800,000 annually into GDAS to support the work that it does with those within, or at the point of entry to, the criminal justice system and I was very impressed to meet the team and hear more about the important work that they do.

Drug and alcohol misuse are deep societal problems without easy solutions and looking at how we tackle these problems, both here in Gwent and across the UK, is something I will be prioritising in my role as a lead on substance misuse for the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners.

I am currently advertising for a new Chief Constable to lead Gwent Police. To inform my decision making during the recruitment process and have your say on other policing issues in Gwent, there is still time to complete my survey which closes on September 29. The information will be used to inform my Police and Crime Plan, which will set out the focus of my work for the next four years so please have your say and help me make a difference to our communities.

Have your say - https://bit.ly/GwentPCP2024

Jane Mudd is the police and crime commissioner for Gwent.