- Thames Valley Police
Infobox UK Police
name= Thames Valley Police
area=Berkshire Buckinghamshire Oxfordshire
start= 1968
population= 2.1 million
size= 5,700 km²
officers= 4,189
title= Chief Constable
head=Sara Thornton
divname= BCUs
divno= 5
stations= 48
HQ=Kidlington
web= http://www.thamesvalley.police.ukThames Valley Police is one of the largest
Home Office police services inEngland and the largest non-metropolitan one, covering 2200 sq mi (5,700 km²) and a population of 2.1 million. The force is responsible for theThames Valley area covered by the ceremonial counties ofBerkshire ,Buckinghamshire andOxfordshire . [cite web | url = http://www.thamesvalley.police.uk/news_info/info/about.htm | title = About Thames Valley Police | publisher = Thames Valley Police | accessdate = March 22 | accessyear = 2007] . Its area of coverage has a population of 2,180,200 people. The force employs 7,815 people, made up of 4,165 police officers, 3,150 police staff, and over 500 Police Community Support Officers. 250 Special Constables and 500 volunteers also support the force in its work. Itsmotto is "Sit pax in valle tamesis" (Latin : 'Let there be Peace in the Thames Valley'); [cite web | publisher = Thames Valley Police | url = http://www.thamesvalley.police.uk/news_info/info/crest.htm | title = Thames Valley Police Authority — Coat of Arms | accessdate = October 25 | accessyear = 2005] itsslogan is "reducing crime, disorder and fear".The Chief Constable of the force is
Sara Thornton who was promoted to the position in April 2007.Police authority
Thames Valley
Police Authority has 10 elected members, with two from Oxfordshire County Council, one fromBuckinghamshire County Council, and one each from the unitary authorities ofBracknell Forest , Milton Keynes, Reading,Slough , Wokingham,West Berkshire , andWindsor and Maidenhead . There are threejustices of the peace , one each from Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. [cite web | publisher = Thames Valley Police Authority | url = http://www.tvpa.police.uk/about/members.htm | title = Who we are — Members | accessdate = January 24 | accessyear = 2006]History
Thames Valley Constabulary, as it was originally known, was formed in 1968 by the amalgamation of
Buckinghamshire Constabulary ,Berkshire Constabulary ,Oxford City Police ,Oxfordshire Constabulary andReading Borough Police .Proposals made by the
Home Secretary on20 March 2006 would see the force stay as a single strategic police force for the area, a merger withHampshire Constabulary having been rejected. [Cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4825524.stm|title=Police forces 'to be cut to 24'|accessdate=2007-04-05|publisher=BBC News|year=2006]Locations
The force is split into five Basic Command Units (BCUs), these being Oxfordshire, Berkshire West, Berkshire East, Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes. In turn each BCU is split into Local Policing Areas (LPAs) that are coterminous with local authority boundaries.
The headquarters of Thames Valley Police is at Oxford Road,
Kidlington , Oxfordshire. The force is covered by two control rooms, with the one in Abingdon covering Oxfordshire and Berkshire West, and one inMilton Keynes covering the Borough of Milton Keynes,Buckinghamshire andBerkshire East.The two "PECs" (Police Enquiry Centres) were formed in 2003, following the closure of local control rooms, to support the newly formed control rooms in Abingdon and Milton Keynes. They are located in
Windsor police station and in a business park close to the Force Headquarters in Kidlington. The PECs handle non-emergency calls from the public.Sulhamstead House in
Sulhamstead is the Thames Valley Police training college, which also houses theThames Valley Police Museum .There are also several Roads Policing bases at strategic locations around the force at Abingdon, Bicester, Taplow, Amersham, Aylesbury, Milton Keynes, Three Mile Cross and Chieveley.
In the media
The most famous Thames Valley Police officer may be the fictional
Inspector Morse (along with his aide,Sergeant Lewis ), the main character in 13 novels byColin Dexter and 33 television episodes byITV .In 1982 the BBC broadcast a nine part series by
Roger Graef and Charles Stewart entitled "Police," which showed afly-on-the-wall account of Thames Valley's E Division based in Reading. This featured the rather demeaning treatment of a female victim of rape which was much discussed in the media at the time.Beginning in 2003 a
Sky1 programme, "Road Wars", followed the Roads Policing Proactive Team while they carried out their duties. This programme continues to film such duties and now includes members of the dog section.ee also
*
Policing in the United Kingdom
*List of police forces in the United Kingdom
*Thames Valley
*Thames Valley Police Museum References
External links
* [http://www.thamesvalley.police.uk/ Thames Valley Police official website]
* [http://www.tvpa.police.uk/ Thames Valley Police Authority]
* [http://www.berkshirehistory.com/castles/sulhamstead_house.html Sulhamstead House]
* [http://www.knowledgenetwork.gov.uk/HO/CircularsOld.nsf/61c122fd38dc829380256d4f0037d98f/ec23a6cc2c37e69480256d7300428858/$FILE/Home%20Office%20Circular%20098%20-%201968.pdf Home Office circular 68-1968 announcing the force's creation]
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