Thames Valley Police chief proud of progress in tackling violence against women as annual data is released

Thames Valley Police’s chief constable has celebrated new data released by the force, showing its progress in tackling violence against women.

This morning (29 April), the force released its official annual statistics covering the financial year from April 2023 to 31 March 2024.

Among the host of new information published on the police website here, were findings showing that the charge rate for rape offences rose by 17.4 per cent and 13.6 per cent for other sexual offences.

Data released today also revealed that 9,253 of all arrests made in the 12-month period were domestic abuse related, representing 28 per cent of all arrests.

Chief constable Jason Hogg, said: “We have made significant progress in reducing serious violence and homicide, and I am also proud of the progress we have made on tackling violence against women and girls.  

“We have arrested over 30,000 people, responded to more than 160,000 incidents, and we have responded to over 950,000 contacts from the public. We have also made strides to reduce fatalities and serious collisions on our roads. Further, we have supported thousands of victims and have put more defendants through the courts.  

“There is always more we can do, and this year I really want for us to solve more crime and bring more offenders to justice, especially in crimes such as burglary, robbery and shoplifting. ”

The homicide figures referenced by the chief constable show a 10 per cent decrease from the previous 12-month period.

Thames Valley Police has also highlighted a decline in the number of knife enabled crime and arrests made over the previous year. This is seen as a further sign of the progress the force is making in its prevention and punishment strategy for combating the dangerous offence.

Chief constable Hogg revealed to The Citizen that the prevention strategy in Milton Keynes is one he is often asked about by Home Office officials.

A spokesperson for the police force added: “We continue to play an active role in the Thames Valley Violence Prevention Partnership, working with partners to prevent young people being drawn into crime and violence, which includes proactively working with schools to speak to young people, as well as visiting sports and local community groups.”

Today’s findings also show a spike in the number of road-related crimes spotted by the police. Figures show a 46 per cent increase in speeding offences recorded by police enforcement officers. There was also 63 per cent increase in the number of people caught driving when distracted, an offence which often involves motorists using or looking at their phones.

The spokesperson added: “We continue to work proactively to reduce serious injury and death on our roads. Sadly, there have been 58 deaths on our roads.”

Across the 12-month period police staff answered over 400,000 calls to 999, over 470,000 calls to 101, and assessed over 108,000 online reports from the public.