Highlighting the importance of shoplifting

Earlier this month we hosted a Neighbourhood Policing Conference and I was delighted to be joined by Sophie Roberts from Fraser’s Budgens in Yarnton who spoke passionately about the impact of shoplifting and violence towards retail staff. Sophie is now going to help with training of police officers to improve Force performance in this area.

Tackling cross-border crime

Criminals will exploit the boundaries between police forces areas and so working cross border is vital. This months I brought together officers from both the Thames Valley and Hampshire rural crime teams along with members of our Independent Advisory Groups to discuss intelligence sharing between forces. This follows similar meetings last month across the border between Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire.

Working with business to tackle retail crime

Last week I spoke at the Midcounties Co-operative Managers conference to discuss the partnership work being established between retailers, Thames Valley Police and the Office of the Police & Crime Commissioner. Better intelligence sharing, improved access to CCTV and faster prosecutions are all needed.

Latest figures show crime down

Thames Valley is one of the police forces that has not just met it’s target for police officer recruitment, but exceeded it. We now have more police officers than ever before, over 5,000.

Figures published recently from the Crime Survey of England and Wales, generally considered to be the most accurate measure of long term crime trends (as it is not affected by changing recording criteria within policing) shows that crime is down across the country since 2010.

Neither this email bulletin or my website are funded from the public purse and all views expressed are my own. For the official website of the Thames Valley OPCC visit www.thamesvalley-pcc.gov.uk.