More about this area

The force says...

Thames Valley Police is the largest non-metropolitan police force in England and Wales, covering the counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. The area comprises urban conurbations such as Reading and Slough, large rural areas including West Berkshire, growing towns such as Milton Keynes and Aylesbury, and one of the country’s most well-known university towns – Oxford. Populated by diverse communities of more than 2.4 million residents, a further six million visitors come to the area each year. In addition, there are more miles of motorway than any other British force.

Thames Valley is policed by 4,529 police officers, 387 PCSOs, 3,032 police staff and 489 volunteers, working in partnership with 18 local authorities at district, county and unitary level. Bordered by nine other forces, Thames Valley is within the South East Region and has strong co-operative arrangements, particularly with Hampshire. TVP is the lead force for the regional counter terrorism and organised crime commands.

In the 2017 calendar year, the force received almost 300,000 ‘999’ and 965,000 non-emergency calls, resulting in 580,381 incidents and 148,669 crimes being recorded. The force routinely manages significant events such as Royal Ascot, Reading Rock Festival and Henley Regatta, and will see exceptional commitments in 2018 including royal weddings, HS2 and Heathrow expansion. The changing crime landscape has seen increases in high-risk, high-harm and complex offending targeting vulnerable people including child sexual assault, both recent and historic, adults at risk, modern slavery, domestic abuse and missing people. The force is committed to transformational change and has a clear focus on priority areas, particularly vulnerability. It is committed to adopting digital technology as an enabler and to improving operational services for the public. Strong partnerships have contributed to managing increased demand within continuing budgetary constraints.

Disclaimer: the above statement has been prepared by Thames Valley Police. The views and information in it are not necessarily those of HMICFRS.