Fortnightly update to the Police and Crime Commissioner - 18 August 2023

Chief Constable fortnightly update to the Police and Crime Commissioner

18 August 2023

Dear Police and Crime Commissioner, Philip Wilkinson,

This week, we had the pleasure of hosting within force His Majesty’s Chief Inspector (HMCI) of Constabulary, Andy Cooke QPM DL. As well as the meeting he had with yourself, HMCI Cooke met with my Chief Officer Group and I to discuss the improvement journey of Wiltshire Police through the Engage status. We were able to take the opportunity to update him on the progress of our Evolve Programme - our dedicated response to the HMICFRS PEEL assessment - alongside hearing his observations and those of his Force Liaison Officers who have been engaging with us over the last 12 months.

HMICFRS are very clear that it will only be when they are able to see long term and sustainable change that we will be able to begin a conversation around the exit from the Engage process. I agree with this – and we must make sure that all our improvements deliver a consistent and reliable improved police service to our communities. However, it was encouraging to hear in our discussions with HMCI Cooke that there are early positive signs, and that Wiltshire Police is moving in the right direction in terms of many of the improvements we needed to make.

You and I will be attending the next HMICFRS Policing Performance Oversight Group (PPOG) on Monday 18 September to meet with the panel responsible for supporting and monitoring forces in Engage. I look forward to providing my force and the public with an update further to that meeting.

I regularly reflect on the incredible volunteers who carry out essential work within our communities to support in keeping our communities safe. Recent weeks have seen some fantastic activity, including:

• The work of our Horse Rider Volunteer Scheme – 55 volunteers on horseback who act as eyes and ears for local policing, and provide intelligence for us to act upon
• The Rural Crime Partnership (RCP) in late July whereby, on a quarterly basis, Neighbourhood Watch volunteers and partner agencies (for example, the Canal and River Trust, local authorities and the Ministry of Defence) gather together to share updates, discuss crime prevention activity and carry out proactive prevention activities, such as signing up community members to our watch schemes
• The work of our Police Cadets in supporting local policing at the Wiltshire Game and Country Fayre at Bowood last weekend (12/13 August) where they promoted the various watch schemes in the county, signed members up to our Community Messaging service and issued leaflets and stickers to support crime prevention
• The work of the British Horse Society in assisting with tack stamping during our recent Community Policing rural roadshow, where community policing teams visited many villages around the Chippenham area in the Mobile Police Station in early August.

These are just a few examples of the brilliant support we receive from the public - we really couldn’t do it without them. I use this letter to you today to say a huge thank you for the commitment and time of all our amazing volunteers – your public service ethos is just incredible – thank you to you all.

Continuing the subject of volunteers, our Special Constabulary have been providing tremendous support to our summer Road Safety Campaign, which is a current focus for us in response to a worrying rise in people killed or seriously injured on our county’s roads. Members of our Special Constabulary supported officers last week in activity within the Chippenham area, tackling general traffic related issues, anti-social aspects of driving, as well as ensuring high visibility and targeted patrols around the area. Their work resulted in a substantial number of interventions with drivers including words of advice, traffic offence reports, vehicle defect rectification forms and document producer forms being issued. This is excellent work and ensures the message is loud and clear that we are intent on ensuring the roads in our county are safe for all who use them.

Other results we have seen so far as part of our crackdown on road safety include a road safety operation held along the A303 near Amesbury, where we saw 18 offences detected in just five hours, including one driver travelling at 23mph over the speed limit; and proactive work by officers in Trowbridge last week which saw a total of 68 offences dealt with during a day of action, ranging from excess speed, failing to wear a seatbelt, defective tyres, mobile phone offences and no insurance.

We will be continuing with our enhanced operational focus on road safety over the coming weeks. I hope these results give you and our communities assurance that we are working hard to keep our communities safe and prevent harm. However, my teams and I would prefer that people were driving safely on our roads, and our efforts were not needed. Rest assured, we will continue with our highly visible road safety work – but I ask all our communities to make sure that they are driving safely and thinking of other road users at all times. One life lost or one person injured is one too many.

You will be aware, as will our public, of some significant media coverage concerning data breaches across a few police forces at this time – specifically the Police Service of Northern Ireland, and Suffolk and Norfolk Constabularies. These incidents serve as a grave reminder to all working within policing the importance of data security. I wanted to reassure you and our communities that my Chief Officer colleagues and I have reviewed our internal processes, particularly with regards to our Freedom of Information Act responses, to reassure ourselves that there are significant procedural checks and balances to protect against such breaches. This is supported by significant operational security improvements across the Wiltshire Police estate.

Last weekend, I was honoured to be able to attend Wiltshire and Swindon Pride to show my support to our communities and Wiltshire Police teams in attendance. This was the first Pride event I have attended as Chief Constable in Wiltshire and I was delighted to be able to be part of this important celebration, which gives vital emphasis to the issues of inclusion and diversity, as well as providing an opportunity to reassure our communities that Wiltshire Police has a zero tolerance to hate crime. If anyone is ever a victim of hate crime or believes that someone else has been subjected to this abhorrent behaviour, then please report it. You will be listened to – and we will do everything we can to bring the offender to justice.

I am aware that this week is A-level results week, and I wish all recipients of exam results well. I know there will be celebrations, but I ask that people make sure they look after themselves and each other and think of the communities around them as they spend time with their friends. I would also like to take this opportunity to remind those receiving their A-level results that there are some fantastic opportunities within policing if you are looking for a career which is varied and stimulating. As well as recruitment for Police Constables (which is open at this time), we have plenty of other opportunities available if you are interested in a role in public service – whether you are thinking long term or short term during a gap year - such as media, finance, human resources, analysts, call handlers and many more. I invite all A-level recipients to look at our website to see all the opportunities we can offer in policing - it really is a career like no other.

In closing today, may I congratulate you on your two-year anniversary in post as Police and Crime Commissioner. I know you, as do I, feel incredibly proud to represent policing within this beautiful county and are dedicated to driving improvements to our service to ensure that, together, we are keeping people safe.

Kindest regards,

Catherine Roper

Chief Constable, Wiltshire Police