Most people will hope to have little or no contact with the police in their lifetimes. They will generally only deal with policing when something has gone wrong, in their lives, the lives of their loved ones, or in their communities. First impressions count and therefore the initial and ongoing contact with the police is crucial in delivering public confidence.

Reducing 101 waiting times

There is a short term imperative to reduce the currently unacceptable waiting times when contacting the police on 101. Performance is significantly below the current target for the average time to answer calls. Whilst this is by definition a non-emergency number the work underway to improve the response must develop a long term solution. Significant fluctuations in the response over time will simply continue to damage confidence, and failure will have a real impact. Many victims of crime will become frustrated, some may resort to using 999 in order to achieve a better response. Sadly some victims may simply not report their crimes, and even more often the public will be less likely to report intelligence or incidents where they have not themselves been victims.

Improvements to IT systems, business process changes, including consideration of challenging Home Office and HMICFRS orthodoxy, along with investment in people and premises will all be part of the solution.

Improvements in the 101 service must be sustained and delivered alongside innovation in new ways of contacting the police. All of this must be with the intention of encouraging the public to report, rather than simply reducing demand. In the past, the message from the police has often been about putting people off from making contact. There is certainly merit in the public understanding the correct use of 999, and being directed to the most appropriate method of contact, however, the overriding message to the public must be: report, report, report.

If the public have the courage to contact the police, they must have the confidence that their contact will be valued and appropriately actioned.

Automating feedback

Around 20% of all calls to 101 are about updates to crimes already reported. If these are dealt with differently, it would not just mean less pressure on call handlers but - more importantly - a better experience for the public. Whilst policing as a universal organisation will always provide its services by telephone, the possibility of automating feedback on progress is a potential game changer.

Being able to log in online to check on the progress of your crime would mean less waiting, quicker updates and the opportunity of more effective two way communication.

The concept is not new, but by seeking to start simply and build functionality over time, Thames Valley can be in the vanguard of improving feedback to the public.

Enabling better digital contact

Not only do most people not have much contact with the police, the vast majority do not want to do so. This is why attempts to use stand alone mobile phone apps for policing are flawed. We download apps for things we want, not as a "just in case". When the public do need to contact the police it is at least important, if not urgent, and downloading new software is the last thing on anyone's mind.

The current alternative to using the 101 telephone service is known as Single Online Home (SOH). A national system with undeniable benefits of being web based (and therefore universal) and common across the majority of police forces. Being part of this national programme brings benefits, however there is scope to improve digital contact using other technologies to compliment, rather than replace, the web based system.

The use of native messaging that many of us use instinctively provides the possibility of a completely different way of talking to the police. Facebook Messenger (36 million users) and WhatsApp (over 40 million users) provide the opportunity to reach more than three-quarters of the population.

Once the systems are developed that allow webchat functionality to improve interations between the police and the public, applying the same principles to a different platform becomes relatively simple. In implementing the use of new technologies there will be a need to re-evaluate the way risk is managed to maintain high levels of public confidence.

Integration with native messaging apps opens up the possibility of live chat, using automation to triage initial contacts, speeding up the response for the public and providing the police with much richer information. Information such as images, videos, location data can all be ingested onto police systems maintaining evidential quality.

As now with SOH, contact management staff at the end of the new messaging platform will ensure the public receive the same response as they would if contacting the Force by telephone on 101.

Over time the use of these technologies is likely to grow and provide an even wider range of services, but early adoption of improved digital contact is likely to see a significant increase in contact with the police. Traditionally this would be seen as a challenge, and undoubtedly it must be adequately planned for. It would however be a welcome sign of confidence in policing if the public demonstrate their courage to reach out with information or to ask for help.

It then falls to the Force to ensure proactive community policing in order to respond to those calls from the public.

Now is the time to revive true Community Policing. Capitalising on the record number of police officers in Thames Valley; giving a clear focus and recognising the benefits of prioritising community policing.

Standardisation & common purpose

There are already significant resources in place across the Force under the current neighbourhood policing model, but how those resources are deployed varies significantly between local police areas (LPAs).

There is an urgent need to clarify the common purpose of community policing. Engagement is key, but for some it becomes an end in itself. This common purpose should drive activity around the overall mission set out in this document.

Thames Valley is a large and diverse place. The crime types that most affect our individual communities will of course vary, however that should not impact the simple fact that every community deserves the highest quality policing Thames Valley Police can provide.

Similarly, the problems encountered by community policing teams will be very different from one end of the force area to another, but the methodology used to approach such problems should be consistent. Within the large organisation that is Thames Valley Police there is a need to properly share best practice and standardisation should go alongside innovation in enabling that.

More neighbourhood police officers

There has been significant pressure on Incident and Crime Response teams as the Force has emerged from the pandemic. Crime levels are returning closer to levels seen prior to COVID-19. This, combined with the pressures of protected learning time for new officers joining the Force through PEQF, has meant an increased draw on neighbourhood policing resources which has had a significant impact. Combined with the uplift recruitment itself, which has seen many PCSOs join as constables, this has meant few officers dedicated to neighbourhood policing roles. Only by refocussing the Force, with the support of the public, can we ever seek to get ahead of the criminals and genuinely build safer communities.

Short term options need to be explored to deploy newly recruited officers directly to community policing, as well as a longer term need to review the establishment figures within community policing. The Force Review provides an opportunity to look afresh at the required resources from the bottom up and hardwire the principles of community policing into future structures.

This does not just relate to police officers, but crucially to PCSOs. Recruitment is more challenging for these non-police officer roles and so options, such as the trajectory of recruitment to full establishment and a supervisory PCSO rank, should be explored in order to make the role more attractive in terms of recruitment and retention. By valuing community policing within the wider organisation we should seek to keep people within their own local geographies for longer. Local knowledge and connections really matter, and whilst career progression should be encouraged we should seek to provide progression that also supports the needs of the public.

Improving communication with the public

There are certainly lessons to be learned from other forces and public sector partners to improve the use of social media to effectively communicate with our communities. Much of this is about simply sending out a broad message to inform the public of police activity or incidents.

Visibility is often considered the pinnacle of community policing. It is indeed important that officers are physically present in order to build that public confidence. Whilst what we do in the online world can never replace the need for warranted officers doing the tough job of policing, we should recognise that a growing number of us live a significant proportion of our lives through the prism of social media. Ensuring that the real work of the police in the physical world is accurately portrayed in the online space is important to providing reassurance and building confidence.

The key to excellent communications with the public runs much deeper though. It is about a golden thread running from the call to 101 all the way to the PCSO at the school gate. The most effective communication is a conversation, it is two way. From that first contact online it may be an accurate and timely, yet automated, response. Or it might be the knock at the door or telephone call from the local team to the someone who called 101 to report something suspicious.

Community policing is about crimefighting. So the attendance by officers at the school fete or community event is not just about showing a visible presence. The common purpose for community policing should make it clear that engagement at these events is to understand local concerns, to find out what is going on in the community, and to spot the early signs of trouble.

There is a great opportunity to improve communications with key stakeholders such as parish councils and residents' groups through professional, centrally resourced, reporting. Smarter targeted communication with residents based on geography and crime types can mean a closer link between the public and the police.

Improved communication will demonstrate the link, clearly to the public, between the information that they provide through crime reports or intelligence, all the way through to action being taken leading to future crime prevention and a safer community being built.

Crimefighting is not just about bringing to justice those who have transgressed our laws - vitally important though that is. It is about crime prevention. A significant amount of police time is taken up with issues that are not crimes. Some of this work, often life saving, will always be inevitable. The Force needs to be more robust however in protecting its workforce from having to deal with excessive workloads that do not relate to the core purpose of fighting and preventing crime.

Greater community intelligence

As has been clear throughout this document, increasing confidence in policing will give the public the courage to report, not just crimes that they have been the victim of, but also wider concerns and intelligence. Whether this is reported through 101, a digital channel, or in person to one of the growing number of community police officers, intelligence is vital. If we are to truly move to a model of crime prevention the police need to seek out, listen to and act upon these wider concerns. In many cases the outcome may be to work in partnership with others, such as the local authority or a community group to tackle issues, such as anti-social behaviour, that left unchecked could escalate into more serious criminality.

Anti-social behaviour and delivering swift justice

Too often anti-social behaviour is seen as low level and unimportant; not scoring highly enough on any harm matrix. Nevertheless, persistent antisocial behaviour can blight communities, create a climate of fear and soon lead to much more serious crime. Through the funding I provide and the strong participation by the police in Community Safety Partnerships we have the opportunity to use a wide range of tools, beyond just police powers, to tackle anti-social behaviour.

We have seen through Operation Deter, Thames Valley's no-nonsense approach to tackling knife crime, that it is not just possible to deliver swift justice, but also that it has significant impact in improving public confidence and providing a deterrent. The same approach can be taken in dealing with anti-social behaviour and other areas of neighbourhood crime. Acting swiftly, embracing new opportunities being developed for reparative justice, and clearly communicating positive outcomes must be part of the approach taken to restore confidence.

Focus on hotspot patrols and known offenders

Although a great deal of evidence has been gathered to demonstrate the efficacy of hotspot policing, it remains a matter of common sense for many, that proactive policing targeted at known hotspots will help to prevent crime. The same is also true around known offenders. The police will, of course, always continue to act impartially and proportionately, but the public rightly expect that officers will focus their efforts where it is likely to have the greatest impact on reducing crime. As a pilot area for the Government's new Serious Violence Prevention Orders, Thames Valley is leading the way in this work. Significant work has also been done with other public bodies to bring together data from across the public sector to identify where resources should best be targeted. This cooperation will be further strengthened through the Serious Violence Duty. Visible patrolling, on foot and in vehicles should be part of any effective community policing strategy, not simply as a tool for generic community reassurance, but when correctly deployed as an effective method preventing crime, gathering intelligence and ensuring safer communities.

Reduce emergency and mental health demand

The mental health challenges facing the police are easy to over simplify. There are plenty of welfare cases where the police simply should not be involved and individuals in crisis should rightly be supported by other agencies. It is impossible however to avoid the notable overlap where a crime or immediate threat to life exists. Nevertheless, even in these circumstances, the Force has a responsibility to the public to ensure police resources are available to fight crime.

The Right Care Right Person model, pioneered by Humberside Police, presents a blueprint for tackling this challenge between the police and the NHS. It now has support from across Government, including the Department of Health and Social Care and the Home Office.

Similar partnership working with local authorities to deal more effectively with the causes of young people in care being reported missing has demonstrated some successes and justifies robust conversations with other organisations. The police have their role to play in the wider public sector but they cannot be the service of last resort where other agencies should be stepping up to take the lead.

Currently much of the pressure of dealing with mental health and other inappropriate demand is felt by Incident and Crime Response teams, already under pressure in dealing with genuine crime-related emergencies.

Alleviating some of this pressure, combined with the determinedly proactive work of the newly reinvigorated community policing teams, will further reduce avoidable emergency calls to the police when things have gone wrong.

This is why community policing is so essential to the future model of Thames Valley Police.

This strategy encompasses a wide range of organisational activity within Thames Valley Police and is ambitious within its own terms. There are, however, a number of other areas of work vital to the success of this project and the wider organisation.

Opportunities for officer training and development

Pressure on training has been significant due to the dual pressures of police officer recruitment and the impositions of restrictions during the pandemic. The coming years provide an opportunity, indeed a need, to rebalance training. Training is important in its own right to develop the skills needed within the workforce, but also to provide a route of progression and advancement for individuals.

Continued recruitment of PCs, PCSOs and staff

Thames Valley has more police officers than ever before, with more than 5,000 officers at the start of 2023/24. This provides a fantastic opportunity and a solid base on which to build. We have planned for future growth to ensure we at least keep pace with the growth in our population over the coming years. The continuation of IPLDP+ entry (or any future PEQF equivalent) will be key not just to ensuring we secure the number of new recruits required, but will deliver a diversity of applicants. Efforts must continue to retain those experienced officers currently in service, for example by maximising the South East Allowance payment. Recruitment of staff and PCSOs remains significantly harder than that of police constables, but is no less important. Consideration should be given to options for changing the structure of PCSO ranks and supervision to make recruitment and retention more attractive. We also need to be realistic about the timescales for recruiting and training PCSOs and look to accelerate PC recruitment to neighbourhood teams in order to provide the strongest possible proactive policing at the earliest opportunity.

Improved support for Special Constables and volunteers

Special Constables, alongside our other volunteers, offer a unique set of skills alongside unrivalled enthusiasm and dedication. They deserve increased support from the Force, properly utilising their abilities by offering increased levels of training commensurate with the amount of time provided to policing. This will not just ensure the benefits of the Special Constabulary are maximised but it will help to recruit and maintain Specials in order to increase numbers to around 10% of the size of the regular force.

Improved investigation structure

The Assessment and Investigation Unit (AIU) first launched in Berkshire and now rolling out across Thames Valley is showing strong early successes in providing a better response to the public whilst reducing pressure on response officers.

For Community Policing to be truly proactive it will need to manage some investigative caseload in order to deal with local offenders and deliver for their communities.

Whatever the operational details of any investigative structure it must build on the lessons learnt from previous work and ensure that victims are at the heart of this work. Thames Valley must improve the investigation of neighbourhood crimes and anti-social behaviour in order to deliver public confidence.

Establishing a Thames Valley CCTV Partnership

Work is already underway to establish a Thames Valley-wide partnership to manage public space CCTV. This ambitious plan seeks to bring CCTV under the control of Thames Valley Police with the Force (in most if not all cases) owning, maintaining and operating the public space CCTV in each local authority area. Whilst financial contributions will still be sought from local authorities on a partnership basis, this model will require significant investment from the police. The benefits however are also significant. Not just better coverage, but easier access for officers investigating crimes and overall better value for the public purse by providing more cost effective monitoring in a small number of designated control hubs.

I am setting out this Crimefighters strategy as Police and Crime Commissioner to make clear my priorities for Thames Valley Police. It will however fall to the Force to deliver on this vision and I will hold the Chief Constable to account for that delivery.

Contact Management Governance

The Force has already launched the Contact Management 101 programme (CM101) which sets a clear timetable for the reduction of 101 waiting times and the delivery of improved victim updates, a Citizen Portal and the launch of full digital chat by 2024/25. The first stage of implementing Robotic Process Automation to improve victim updates is already in place.

Community Policing Governance

The majority of the operational activity relating to this strategy falls under the Local Policing portfolio and the Assistant Chief Constable for Local Policing is establishing a new governance board for Community Policing and will report regularly to the OPCC on delivery against this strategy.

This will include looking at the wider brand of community policing, taking in schools officers and priority crime teams as well as geographical neighbourhood policing teams. This board will define the clear operational mission for community policing and will define clear outcomes.

Police Constable Resourcing

Thames Valley Police now has more than 5,000 officers, more than ever before, and the first step in reprioritising community policing will be to double the size of community policing teams.

150 police constables will be added to dedicated community policing teams over the coming year (2023/24) as the start of this repositioning of the Force.

These posts are being funded through local council tax precept, using funding for other currently vacant posts and in the case of four officers in Windsor and Maidenhead, thanks to ring-fenced funding provided by the local authority.

This will include 10 dedicated mental health officers, in line with this strategy, and a further 20 officers deployed to neighbourhood policing teams immediately. The growth will continue through the current year with a further 20 posted between April and December 2023, followed by a further 40 around December and the remainder by early 2024.

This is in addition to gradually reducing the abstractions to support response teams which has been so challenging over recent months.

Overall recruitment to Thames Valley Police will continue at high levels over 2023/24 with further growth planned.

Police Community Support Officers

Thames Valley Police will continue to prioritise PCSO recruitment and ensure the Force are as near to establishment as possible. The Force has approved - in principle - the introduction of PCSO supervisors which will be put in place as soon as possible.

Special Constabulary

The 2023/24 budget includes £600,000 to implement the Citizens in Policing strategy that has been approved by the Chief Constables Management Team (CCMT). The first year will see the establishment of a dedicated Superintendent post and supporting team. Recruitment of Special Constables is expected to develop over the full 5 years of the strategy in order to achieve a Special Constabulary that will be 10% of the size of the regular Force (approximately 500 Special Constables).

Working practices

A key priority will be to ensure that the Force has consistent working practices across community policing. This includes the approach to prevention, problem solving, hotspots, engagement and investigation. Neighbourhood teams will carry a caseload and be expected to investigate. The Force will use the Crimefighters brand to adopt a fighting crime culture in neighbourhood policing, tackling crime and ASB issues at a local level.

AIU roll out

Building on the successful pilot in Berkshire the Force are now in a position to roll out Assessment and Investigation Units across Thames Valley from April 2023, being up and running by June 2023.