Thames Valley Police specialist numbers ‘critically low’ and operations ‘at risk’

A watchdog has highlighted the “critically low” number of specialists at Thames Valley Police in a new report.

The police force needs to ‘improve’ its ability to tackle serious and organised crime, according to His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Police, Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS).

It was found that the number of specialist personnel is ‘critically low’ and that some operations are ‘at risk’.

The watchdog investigated how effectively police in the south-east of England are tackling serious and organised crime.

These crimes include child sexual exploitation, drug trafficking, arms distribution, money laundering and modern slavery.

HMICFRS says Thames Valley needs to improve its understanding of serious and organised crime, the way it tackles it and the resources and skills it has to tackle it.

According to the watchdog’s researchers, the police have reduced the number of analysts since 2012 and senior managers have told them that the “number of analysts has fallen to critically low levels”.

The report said some requests for analytical support are not being met, that remaining analysts are facing higher workloads and are “often working overtime”, meaning there is “little resilience within teams”.

Part of the report added: “Senior staff told us that funding for force intelligence and specialist operations is at risk; they need to make significant savings. It is expected that the majority of these savings will come from staff posts.”

Another issue highlighted by the HMICFRS inspection was that Thames Valley was not using ‘local profiles’ to tackle serious and organised crime.

Most of the local police teams in the force had never heard of these profiles. They provide an overview of serious and organised crime threats and the criminal groups involved.

Another area for improvement identified by HMICFRS was that Thames Valley needs to ensure there are sufficient frontline resources to tackle serious and organised crime.

The supervisor’s report states: “During the field test, we heard that neighborhood officers regularly supported emergency response teams.

“In one local police district we heard that sometimes all officers had been redeployed to response duties. This affected the police response to serious and organised crime.”

Craig Kirby, Chief Inspector of Thames Valley Police, said the force had acknowledged the HMICFRS report and was ‘actively implementing the lessons learned’.

Kirby, the head of crime and intelligence, said that in the past 12 months police have seized almost £1 million in cash, seized 301 drugs, seized 291 phones linked to serious and organised crime, and seized 40 firearms – the highest number in history.

He also praised the police’s collaboration with its partners and in schools, and the collaboration with the Public Prosecution Service to increase the number of charges and pre-trial detentions of people caught with knives.

He added: “However, we are aware that improvements are needed in a number of areas, particularly in relation to the resources allocated to some of our specialist teams.”

Kirby said these issues are being addressed by “restructuring the administration,” including by partnering with other forces and reducing the number of community officers leaving the police force.

He added: “We are aware of the resource challenges we face and have put in place mechanisms to ensure our resources are deployed appropriately, based on the threat risk and damage and wider operational requirements.”

Thames Valley Police serves the areas of Buckinghamshire, Berkshire and Oxfordshire.