Designer Of Police Annual Report Sees The Published Version
Warwickshire Police Authority and Warwickshire Police have designed and published their Annual Report, showing performance and achievements by the force for the preceding year, in an innovative new way.
Warwickshire Police Authority and Warwickshire Police have designed and published their Annual Report, showing performance and achievements by the force for the preceding year, in an innovative new way.
The report outlines key steps taken in the county to deliver greater protection and reflects on some of the notable achievements that have been made with crime has continued to fall, down 6.2 per cent on the preceding year, which equates to 2470 less victims of crime. Warwickshire also saw a 21 per cent drop in violent crime, the largest decrease recorded anywhere in the country, and crime continues to fall again this year.
The report also highlights exciting developments in policing in Warwickshire and this year has been produced by a local designer following an open competition on the internet.
It is one of the most important documents of the year and ensures that Warwickshire Police and the Police Authority continue to be accountable for the work they have undertaken and how they have performed during the year.
A competition was launched via the force website in July inviting the public to submit design ideas for the Annual Report – with the winner receiving a £500 contribution towards their time and costs involved in developing the work.
Those expressing an interest were then asked to submit their ideas for the design using the information supplied by the force.
Tuesday 22 December sees the results of the competition with the publication of the Warwickshire Police 2008/2009 Annual Report, designed by Leamington based Gaz Nash.
Deputy Chief Constable Andy Parker, speaking about the winning design said, “We felt that this design would appeal to members of the public. It’s an easy read, containing enough information for people to be informed, but also directs them to other places if they want to know more. The idea of having a different version for each district or borough is also excellent as it keeps it local, so people will be able to identify with the information they are reading.”
Gaz, 31, who earlier this year (2009) set up his own design business “liquidblu” (www.liquidblu.co.uk) in Leamington after working for a number of years with a design agency in Warwick, said he was delighted to have been invited to design this year’s Annual Report.
“Much of my communications work is for small and medium enterprises, it is very varied and includes anything from an engineering company to an events agency.
“When I saw the advert for the competition to work on the police Annual Report I thought it would be an interesting job to become involved with and so emailed in for further details.”
“I was given a password which gave me access to the information that had to be included in the annual report, along with access to photographs and logos. Because it was for the police there were various things to think about such as the police brand and also the colours that I could use.
“I decided there was no point in producing a thick glossy document which I felt no one would have time to read through properly. Also because of the number of copies that needed to be produced the report had to be suitable to be delivered and displayed in a different places around the county.” Explained Gaz.
With a wide range of information to be included, relating to performance, achievements, important events and finances for the force, Gaz, and the team, decided the best way forward was to create a design which would then be suitable to be published in five different versions - one for each of the five Warwickshire policing areas; Stratford, Warwick, Rugby, Nuneaton and Bedworth and North Warwickshire.
Each version, on a double sided fold out colour pamphlet, shows photographs and gives selected information relevant to that area, with links for people who want to find out more about any particular section.
A total of 100,000 copies of the Annual Report have now been published and will be distributed widely throughout the force to make it available in libraries, supermarkets, doctor and dentist surgeries as well as being available online (below are links to the PDF version of the documents).
