Thames Valley Police communicates well with the public but there are concerns about how vulnerable people are protected
Thames Valley Police communicates well with the public, but it needs to do more to protect vulnerable people, the police inspectorate has said.
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PEEL 2023-25: An inspection of Thames Valley Police
His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) graded Thames Valley Police’s performance across eight areas of policing and found the force was good in one area, adequate in two areas, requires improvement in four areas and inadequate in one area.
HMICFRS said the force makes good use of stop and search to prevent and detect crime and is involving community members in the scrutiny of how it uses police powers.
However, the inspectorate said the force needs to improve how it works with partner organisations to assess and manage risks to vulnerable people, including making sure that risk assessments are detailed enough and dealt with promptly.
His Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary Roy Wilsher said:
“I am satisfied with some aspects of the performance of Thames Valley Police in keeping people safe, reducing crime and providing victims with an effective service. But there are areas in which the force needs to improve.
“The force has nine multi-agency safeguarding hubs (MASH) due to the size of the force area, and I am concerned about some of the processes within these hubs. It needs to make sure it has effective and consistent processes in place to protect vulnerable victims and share information promptly with other safeguarding agencies.
“The force had a change in leadership in the six months leading up to our inspection, and the new team has a clear purpose that it has communicated well, which focuses on building trust, serving victims, fighting crime and valuing the workforce.
“I am pleased with the way the team has responded to my concerns. The force has already taken steps to make improvements, and I will be monitoring progress closely.”
Get the report
PEEL 2023-25: An inspection of Thames Valley Police
Notes
- For further information, please contact the HMICFRS Press Office on 0300 071 6781 or HMICPressOffice@hmicfrs.gov.uk.
- In 2014, we introduced our police effectiveness, efficiency and legitimacy (PEEL) inspections, which assess the performance of all 43 police forces in England and Wales. Since then, we have been continuously adapting our approach.
- We have continued our intelligence-led, continual assessment approach, rather than the annual PEEL inspections we used in previous years.
- We have also changed our approach to graded judgments. We now assess forces against the characteristics of good performance, and we more clearly link our judgments to causes of concern and areas for improvement.
- It isn’t possible to make direct comparisons between the grades awarded in this PEEL inspection and those from the previous cycle of PEEL inspections. This is because we have increased our focus on making sure forces are achieving appropriate outcomes for the public, and in some cases we have changed the aspects of policing we inspect.
- More information about the new PEEL assessment framework 2023-2025 is available on our website.