Report says Thames Valley Police response to organised crime 'requires improvement'

Released on Friday (30 August), the results of a new inspection from HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) said forces in the region must improve.

As well as calling for the TVP to improve, the HMICFRS stated practices in Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary were ‘inadequate’. Surrey Police was rated as requiring improvement and Sussex Police was graded as ‘adequate’.

Also the South East Regional Organised Crime Unit (SEROCU), which oversees larger operations in the area, was inspected.

Detective Chief Superintendent Steve Boniface, head of SEROCU, said: “We are pleased that it has been recognised that we are good at tackling serious and organised crime across the South East.

“SEROCU works across the four counties to ensure the safety of our communities and to disrupt serious organised crime and the harm it causes to so many people.”

Four key areas of improvement were identified in the Thames Valley Police section of the report, that can be read in full here.

HMICFRS is calling on the force to make sure it has enough analysts and financial investigators to tackle serious and organised crime. An inspector noted that the number of analytical posts within the force has fallen in the past 12 years.

"Because of the reduced number of analysts, some requests for analytical support can’t be met,” the report states. It also says the staffing issue means other investigations take longer to complete.

Another area for improvement stated by the HMICFRS is that Thames Valley Police should make sure that it has enough frontline resources to tackle serious and organised crime.

Inspectors found that often neighbourhood officers had to support serious crime teams and this meant that the reassignment of neighbourhood officers had led to a reduction in community intelligence.

Thames Valley Police was also told to improve the consistency of its approach to tackling organised crime. Concerns were raised with how information was recorded and the structure used by the force.

However the report did also state that the force had made serious organised crime prevention a priority. HMICFRS credited TVP for creating a plan to address intelligence gaps.

Further praise was given to the police teams working on serious organised crime, with the HMICFRS finding the units worked well with neighbouring police forces. Also, those teams were seen to have a good understanding of how to use the tactics available to them.

One concern raised in 2016, that was mentioned in HMICFRS’s updated findings stated: “Some officers we spoke to from local investigation units didn’t know which [organised crime groups] were operating in their areas."

The fact that Thames Valley Police has to deal with multiple local authorities across its region was raised as another factor that can make policing ‘complex’.

HMICFRS also praised policing initiatives throughout the Thames Valley designed to stop people getting involved with crime. One that got special mention was Boxing Clever, a scheme used in Milton Keynes.