What will happen during the Information Evenings?

The evenings will be chaired by a local community representative.

All evenings are being planned in partnership with the local community and the Borough police, and so each will be different, but typically they will involve the elements below:

• A community member will set out local concerns and perspective;
• The police Borough Commander and / or Local Authority Chief Executive will explain local initiatives in place to combat shootings;
• A Trident senior investigating officer will explain how witnesses have been supported in recently solved cases, showing how the investigation was carried out and how the witnesses were looked after during the court proceedings;
• A Crown Prosecution Service lawyer will be on hand to give more detail of the sorts of scenarios where extra support would be made available to witnesses;
• We will play a specially-made video of a court demonstrating how witnesses can be screened from the court and provided with separate entrances and waiting areas. We will demonstrate a voice distortion machine, so the public can hear for themselves how different it can make people's voices. We will explain how fake names and anonymity can work in practice, from day 1 of an investigation;
• Trident senior investigating officers will give updates on the shootings investigations in the area including those that are currently unsolved, and will provide a summary of the kind of information we need to solve them; and
• Finally, but most importantly, there will be an opportunity for people to meet with all of those in the room.