New Thames Valley Police Chief Constable vows to improve public trust as a main priority

The new chief constable for Thames Valley Police has outlined his key objectives to improve life in the area and rebuilding trust with the public is a main priority.

Among his key three aims for improving policing Chief Constable Jason Hogg stated a determination to improve the public’s trust in the people hired to keep them safe.

Chief Constable Hogg who took over from John Campbell on Saturday (1 April), referenced the recent Casey Report and other startling incidents of police misconduct which rocked have the public’s trust in officers across the country.

Louise Casey’s official report into the Metropolitan Police found it to be institutionally racist, misogynistic and homophobic. The report was authorised after Sarah Everard was adducted, raped and murdered by a serving police officer in London.

Chief Constable Hogg told The Citizen: “My three priorities going forward are: serving victims, fighting crime, and building trust. And all three things are very much related to one another.

"Every time someone is a victim of crime there is an opportunity to build a relationship and show the supportive work Thames Valley Police do.

"So we need to be focused on making sure we answer the phone quickly, particularly on 999s. We get and respond to calls effectively and quickly. We take positive action and keep victims updated. That is one area I do want us to get better at going forward.

"In relation to fighting crime, I’m a career detective, and have worked at every rank in the police service. Investigating crime is so important, being able to stand up to the criminals, and get them behind bars without more crime happening – being proactive to make sure that all officers in Thames Valley are focused on fighting crime and those crimes that specifically matter most to the public.

"Which tend to be, serious violence, violence against women and girls, which is a priority for us, but also what the Home Office is calling neighbourhood crime, so burglary, robbery, car crime too.

"If there is one thing that is my priority in my intray, it is to work incredibly hard to build trust in our communities here in the Thames Valley.

"I’m in no doubt that public trust in the police has been shaken as a result of some of those high profile events we have seen in the Metropolitan Police recently. And there is more we need to do in that space.

"And one of the things I am committed to, and the Police and Crime Commissioner will be making an announcement next week, is to significantly increasing the numbers of neighbourhood officers.

"Secondly, I am going to be unapologetic in rooting out the individuals who don’t share the values that we have in this organisation. And we will be seeing a number of misconduct cases taking place in the coming months.

"Finally representation piece, Thames Valley Police is more representative of our local community than before.

"In the last year we’ve had 18 per cent of our new student officers from Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic Communities, which is the highest number in the history of Thames Valley Police.

"And despite some of the criticisms we’ve seen nationally, around violence against women and girls, and allegations of sexism and misogyny. We had more women than ever before joining us. We can’t be complacent, but the organisation is looking and starting to feel differently.”

Chief Constable Hogg served as deputy chief constable in Thames Valley for three years prior to his promotion. Across his career, the new police chief has also worked on forces in the north east of England where he grew up on the Cleveland beat and for the Isle of Wight Constabulary.

He also oversaw the South East Counter Terrorism Unit and the Regional Organised Crime Unit, covering Thames Valley, Hampshire, Sussex, Surrey and

Kent, before taking on a senior Thames Valley Police role.

He added: “When people see a headline about the Metropolitan Police, they just see ‘police’, so I understand that. Undoubtedly confidence in Thames Valley Police has been damaged by some of those incidents.

"I've worked in a number of police forces up and down the land, and no two police forces are equal. And when we were last inspected by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabularies, they reported that here in Thames Valley we have a ‘inclusive and ethical’ workforce.

"People who work here are really proud of this organisation, and they said that we treat people ‘fairly and with respect’. Particularly around when we use our police powers we do so fairly, and that’s a great base to build on.

"But we do need to get better, we can’t be complacent. We have had some high profile cases here in Thames Valley. We have dismissed 15 officers in the past 12 months, we have a number of active misconduct cases.

"It would be naive to suggest that some of the challenges that the Metropolitan face, wouldn’t happen here. But I do think that we do have a really positive culture.

"We’ve just done a survey with our female staff in Thames Valley, 1,300 responses. They talked about Thames Valley being a great place to work. There is still some language, or jokes, conversations, which make people feel uncomfortable, so we’ve just done some training with our whole workforce in healthy team cultures. To give people a voice for when something happens to just call it out straightaway.”