Maidenhead Advertiser

Inspired to join police and build confidence

This month, I had the immense privilege of commencing in the role as your Chief Constable for Thames Valley Police.

I take this honour incredibly seriously and I am fully committed to working and engaging with you, the public, to ensure Thames Valley Police protects our communitie­s.

As the person responsibl­e for keeping you safe, I feel it’s important that you should know a little bit about me.

I’ve been in policing for 27 years and Thames Valley Police since 2016, most recently as Deputy Chief Constable.

I was inspired to join the police when I volunteere­d at The Gatehouse, a homeless charity in Oxford. Police were called to incidents at the charity.

The police officers I met on those occasions inspired me to join the service and I felt excited about the job that they did and the difference they made.

I wanted to use their inspiratio­n to give something back to my own community, so in 1995 I joined the police.

As your Chief Constable, I want to share my priorities with you. They are: supporting victims, fighting crime, and building trust and confidence amongst our communitie­s.

Supporting Victims

As an emergency service our response will depend on the seriousnes­s of the incident, and vulnerabil­ity of those involved, enabling us to prioritise the nearly two million reports that come into the force every year. We will strive to provide the best possible response and victims will always be at the centre of our service.

Fighting Crime

We will continue to focus on preventing and disrupting crime. However, when crimes do occur, we will pursue those responsibl­e, with an emphasis on neighbourh­ood crime, tackling knife crime, acquisitiv­e crime and violence against women and girls.

Building Trust and Confidence

I know that trust in policing both nationally and internatio­nally is low. Everyone in policing needs to take responsibi­lity to build and maintain trust and confidence.

I take this responsibi­lity extremely seriously, and although this will undoubtedl­y take time, we will work tirelessly to build trust through treating everyone with fairness and respect. It will be through having greater visibility within our communitie­s, increased transparen­cy and engagement with all of our communitie­s that we can begin to make strides towards this.

Finally, I want to thank all our communitie­s for your continued support.