New police Chief Inspector wants to make South Buckinghamshire a safer place to live

The new inspector brings 20 years of policing experience to the role.
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New Chief Inspector Rachel Patterson started in the role of Deputy Commander for the Chiltern and South Buckinghamshire Local Policing Area (LPA) and vowed to clamp down on neighbourhood crime.

She took over from Chief Inspector Scott Messenger who is moving into a regional policing role.

Chief Inspector Patterson brings with her 20 years of policing experience in operational roles covering response, custody and neighbourhood policing.

Chief Inspector Rachel PattersonChief Inspector Rachel Patterson
Chief Inspector Rachel Patterson

She joined Thames Valley Police in 2009 as a response Sergeant working in South Oxfordshire and Vale of the White Horse LPA after transferring from Cambridgeshire Constabulary, where she worked towards local priorities including the reduction of burglaries and speeding.

After being promoted to Inspector, Chief Inspector Patterson moved to the Oxford area where her work focused largely on community engagement and working closely with partner agencies, particularly to tackle the emerging issues of child exploitation and county drug lines.

Whilst in the police, she has also completed a graduate Diploma in Law and written an academic article on child drug running networks.

Most recently, Chief Inspector Patterson has been working in a strategic role to identify and recommend areas of improvement across different departments. For the last year, she has been on the senior management team for Thames Valley Police’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

She said: “I am really excited to start in my new role in Chiltern and South Buckinghamshire, knowing that I am joining a team of extremely dedicated and hardworking police officers and staff who are passionate about policing.

“I am committed to delivering an excellent service to the communities we serve, focusing on the preventing crime that is impacting on our neighbourhoods. Bringing offenders to justice and keeping victims at the centre of our investigations will continue to be the priorities for the policing team here in Chiltern and South Buckinghamshire. This is rightly what our local communities expect and together with Supt Clements and DCI Alexander, I will ensure officers and staff have all they need to meet and exceed these expectations.

“I am looking forward to working alongside partners, businesses and the public and look at how we can work together to keep Chiltern and South Buckinghamshire a safe place to live and work”.