Fortnightly update to the Police and Crime Commissioner - 26 May 2023

Chief Constable fortnightly update to the Police and Crime Commissioner

26 May 2023

Dear Police and Crime Commissioner, Philip Wilkinson,

I am extremely pleased to be starting this letter to you today able to confirm that we have now arrested someone for the burglary of the Swindon West Police Point on 14 May, and we have recovered all the items that were stolen from the building, including all the uniform and personal protective equipment.

The last ten days have been an extremely worrying time for the Force, and I appreciate that there will have also been high public concern linked to this incident. This concern will link to the trust and confidence of our communities in Wiltshire Police, and I completely understand the impact that this will have had. I hope this update will provide some reassurance.

This incident has been a catalyst for me to conduct a wide-ranging review of our estate security and operating processes, learning from this incident and to make sure we take every step to prevent this from happening again.

This week, I will be extending an advertisement for an interim Assistant Chief Constable to join Wiltshire Police to replace ACC Mark Cooper, who retired from policing last year. Joining Wiltshire Police at this time, as we seek to make rapid and sustained improvements further to the HMICFRS inspection, would be an exciting and challenging time for someone who is considering a change in their policing career.

I hope to see a lot of interest in this recruitment opportunity over the coming weeks as we seek to find the right person to work alongside the Chief Officer group and I as we deliver our Plans on a Page and the priorities within your Police and Crime Plan.

We run regular recruitment campaigns for both PCSOs and Special Constables and the details are on our website. These roles are a fundamental part of our policing family and bring a range of skills to improve the service we provide to our communities.

I would encourage anyone who may be interested in joining Wiltshire Police to look at our website, as there are also a range of other recruitment opportunities available – including joining our Contact Centre teams, who provide the pivotal service of taking the initial calls from the public and ensure that we respond in order to keep our communities safe. Our recruitment team look forward to hearing from anyone who may be interested in applying for our vacancies.

Finally, we both know that the quality of the data we input into the systems we use is of the utmost importance to ensure that we act on accurate and timely information in our fight against crime, make swift operational decisions and actively understand the level of criminality within our communities.

This week, I received contact from the Home Office who have confirmed to us that the level of accuracy in the information we are uploading to the Police National Database (PND), which is subject to over 40 checks, is now top of the table for all forces due to its high level of accuracy and consistency.

This month our data accuracy for the PND achieved an assurance level of 94.2% against the national average of 75.9%. Quite simply, this is brilliant, and is testament to the hard work of our officers and staff alongside our Records Management team.

I am extremely grateful for all the hard work that has gone in to achieving this outcome - this is such an important element of our business when it comes to Keeping Wiltshire Safe.

Kindest regards,

Catherine Roper

Chief Constable, Wiltshire Police