Responding to concerns about policing in Thames Valley

In my opinion Thames Valley Police misjudged the handling of a complaint regarding a Facebook comment made in March of this year.

From my understanding the comments appear to be rude, ill-judged, unpleasant and offensive – but thankfully being rude and causing offence is not a crime.

As with all police forces, Thames Valley receives thousands of reports from the public. Some serious, some trivial and the public should rightly expect each report to be considered to determine its merits. In my view this complaint should have been screened out earlier, which would have avoided the need for a police officer to attend. To be clear, in this case no-one was arrested, no further action has been taken.

I do expect the police to consider the proportionality of their investigations and to make an early assessment as to whether a crime is likely to have been committed. In this case I believe the Force made a mistake. I have spoken to the Chief Constable about this case, the legislation in this area and the difficulties the police face when receiving reports from the public that need to be looked into. I have referred the case to the Professional Standards Department to look into the decision making and handling of this case.

We have a wider problem in this country, with increasingly polarised views. Members of the public choosing to be all too easily offended, and keen to report online comments whilst others relish hiding behind their screens to say things that may be perfectly legal, but which they are unlikely to be willing to say in person. This does put the police in a challenging situation. None of us would want the police to ignore complaints, and where a crime has taken place it needs to be investigated so they all need at least some initial assessment. 

I will happily criticise the Force when I believe mistakes are made. This is one of those occasions, but it is also important to put this in context. On any given day, including the day of this incident, Thames Valley Police will have attended dozens of domestic abuse cases, dealt with burglaries, shopliftings and assaults.

This week Thames Valley Police has also successfully managed the security operation for the State Visit of President Trump. This has been a huge operation, involving officers from across the country and I am grateful to those who have worked hard to ensure the safety of all those attending, including the many people who were on the streets of Windsor to protest on a variety of issues. During the operation four people were arrested for malicious communications offences. Those individuals have since been bailed, but the investigation is still ongoing. The case has also caused some concern over the right to protest, and I have asked for an update from the Chief Constable, but it would be premature to comment further until the case is concluded. 

Freedom of speech is important, but it is not absolute. We all want to see the police dealing with serious crime in our communities, especially police officers themselves. That is what I see Thames Valley Police officers doing day in, day out

But perhaps we would all be a bit better off if people think a little bit harder about how they make and receive public discourse.