What a dire weekend, the weather was terrible.
Lots in the news today of the rise in cannabis farms around the UK with media reports that the police are discovering 21 factories daily in Britain, you wouldn't believe but that's a street value of £100million. Here in Kent I'm really proud of our Serious Crime Directorate - a dedicated team that deals with hard-hitting crimes - including drugs. I'm very happy to say that there have been a handful of cannabis incidents in the county in the last couple of months, so that's really good news.
We've just launched our Commissioning Conference that will be held on the 25 May. This is a very exciting initiative by the Authority to help raise awareness about the changes ahead under the Police and Crime Commissioner.
I personally believe that commissioning will play an enormous role in the new governance arrangements. So we decided to open the debate and to inform our stakeholders of the changes ahead and what it might mean for them.
We have a very busy agenda but I think one that captures everything from those who provide a service and could potentially bid, to private companies who are already doing this. We will hear from a variety of speakers - some from Kent - as well as the national perspective. I'm confident it will be a very interesting day and will get lots of people thinking about the future of commissioning police services.
Another busy week ahead, what with the usual admin work to be done, briefings with the Chief Constable, two meetings in London with colleagues on the Police Negotiating Board, representing the Association of Police Authorities on the group that looks at performance issues for forces and our own Protective Services Board. The latter looks carefully at the work done by officers and staff who deal with the really difficult 'bits' of policing, from child exploitation, to countywide illegal drug activities, all the things that cause untold misery, but which the average person in the street rarely thinks about.
We all tend to be too focussed on what is happening where we live in our neighbourhoods - understandably so - but we should never lose sight of the other issues that affects our lives so deeply in one way or another.
At the Full Authority meeting last week we had to say a sad farewell to one of our members, Graham Hodkinson. Graham spent five years as our South Kent lead and has made inroads with risk assessments and worked really hard to improve policing in the Folkestone area. He is now off to become a Magistrate - so congratulations to you Graham - you'll be missed.
On a lighter note, I went to the Turner exhibition in Margate last week - stunning! If you haven't been to the Elements exhibition, then give yourself a treat. You could also do what I did and treat yourself to a really delicious lunch at Eddie Gilbert's fish restaurant in Ramsgate. Marvellous food and really nice service - all in all a great day out.