This year, for the first time, we have assessed leadership across the force. The assessment has led to a narrative rather than graded judgment, which is summarised below.
Read more about my assessment of Thames Valley Police’s performance this year, including where I would like to see improvements next year.
I am very pleased with the performance of Thames Valley Police in keeping people safe and reducing crime.
The force is good at tackling crime and anti-social behaviour, and I am encouraged by how neighbourhood officers work well in communities and with partners to prevent crime and anti-social behaviour. The force investigates crime well and takes consistent action against organised crime groups, although more work is needed to prevent serious organised crime.
I welcome the commitment of the force to protecting vulnerable people, which is understood by officers and staff at all levels. This commitment is demonstrated through the force’s investment in training and resources to help the workforce protect the most vulnerable. I am reassured that the force is taking steps to invest more resource into child abuse investigations.
The force is well placed to achieve its future savings requirements. It is going through the next stage of its change programme, which includes a detailed examination of how it matches resources to the highest priorities. I am impressed by the robust processes followed by the force and its outstanding approach in ensuring that it has the resources to continue to provide an effective service to the public, while dealing with future financial constraints.
I am particularly impressed by the way the force engages with communities across the Thames Valley area. Neighbourhood officers and police community safety officers understand local communities; communicate with them well through a range of different means, including social media; and, importantly, act promptly to address community concerns.
The force is well led with a track record of successfully implementing change. The chief officer team has set out a clear vision for the organisation; it strongly promotes an ethical culture and an inclusive workforce.
Description of force area
Thames Valley Police provides policing services to the counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. Although there are some areas of deprivation, Avon and Somerset is generally affluent. Around 2.3 million people mainly live in the urban centres which include the city of Oxford and the towns of Milton Keynes, Reading, Aylesbury, Maidenhead and Slough. The resident population is ethnically diverse, with 15 percent from black, Asian and minority ethnic communities, and is increased by university students and the large numbers who visit, socialise in, commute into, or travel through the area each year. The transport infrastructure includes major rail stations.
The proportion of areas in Thames Valley that are predicted to present a very high challenge to the police is lower than the national average. These are characterised by social deprivation or a concentration of commercial premises (including licensed premises), and in some cases both. Providing services across the entirety of the force area is hindered by the size of the force area and the road network.
Working arrangements
The force works in partnership with Hampshire Constabulary, with one senior officer responsible for roads policing, firearms and public order capabilities for both forces. Similar plans to have joint control room and call-handling arrangements are well advanced, with some elements already in place.
During the past year, the chief constable left to take up the role as chair of the National Police Chiefs’ Council. A new chief constable has been appointed.
Effectiveness
In our effectiveness inspection, we judged Thames Valley Police to be good at keeping people safe and reducing crime. The force has low crime levels and continues to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour. The force investigates crime well and takes consistent action against organised crime groups, although more work is needed to prevent serious organised crime. It is good at identifying and supporting those who are most vulnerable, but, to address increased demand, the force needs to invest more resource into child abuse investigations. This is the first year HMIC has graded forces on their overall effectiveness so comparison of their year-on-year effectiveness is not possible.
Efficiency
Thames Valley Police is very well prepared to face its future financial challenges. Through robust financial management and understanding of current demand it is successfully making the savings required of it and is well placed to continue to do so, while maintaining a high-quality response to calls for service from the public. It has financial plans to achieve savings in this financial year and is developing robust processes to make future savings.
In last year’s value for money inspection, which considered how forces had met the challenge of the previous spending review period, Thames Valley was judged to be good.
Legitimacy
The chief officer team has set out a clear vision of an ethical culture and inclusive workforce within Thames Valley Police. Neighbourhood officers and staff engage well with their communities and display a good understanding of local needs. The force is complying with the Best Use of Stop and Search scheme. The use of Taser by authorised officers is fair and appropriate.
This is the first time HMIC has graded forces on their legitimacy, so no year-on-year comparison is possible.
Leadership
Thames Valley Police is well led and its chief officer team provides clear expectations of leaders. We found an effective approach to leadership development, including a force-wide programme to identify talented individuals and provide development opportunities to 30 officers and staff each year.
Insights from other inspections
HMIC undertakes other inspections in addition to the PEEL programme. Since the last PEEL assessment there have been three reports published on inspections that included Thames Valley Police. More detail on some of these inspections can be found under the Other inspections section.
Looking ahead to PEEL 2016
In the year ahead, I will be interested to see how the force responds to this assessment.
I will be particularly interested to see:
- how the next stage of the force’s ongoing change programme enables the force to continue to provide a good policing service to all the communities across the Thames Valley area; and
- how the investment in child protection enables the force to continue to improve its services to children.
In May 2016, like the majority of forces in England and Wales, the force will see the second elections for its police and crime commissioner.
