Полиция Темзской долины: история и современность.

English territorial police force

It is the largest non metropolitan police force in England and Wales, covering 2218 square miles (5,745 km2) and a population of 2.42 million people.

Prior to the Municipal Corporations Act 1835 there were ancient ways of keeping law and order through Parish constables or quasi police bodies who conducted a wide range of duties. Modern policing in Thames Valley can be traced back to the 1835 act when a number of boroughs set up police forces. For example Newbury Borough Police were operating as a small police force soon after the passing of the Act. The force was one of around twenty borough forces that were later amalgamated with their county police force. These were Buckinghamshire Constabulary, Oxfordshire Constabulary, Berkshire Constabulary, Reading Borough Police and Oxford City Police founded in 1857, 1857, 1856, 1836 and 1868 respectively. Under the Police Act 1964 these five forces were amalgamated on 1 April 1968 to form the Thames Valley Constabulary. Thames Valley Police has changed its name only once in its own history in 1971, from Thames Valley Constabulary to Thames Valley Police, a common change in most police forces that makes them more accessible. Thames Valley Police's motto in Latin is Sit pax in valle tamesis meaning 'Let there be Peace in the Thames Valley', their slogan is 'Reducing crime, disorder and fear'. The Thames Valley Police shield is made up of features from the shields of its five founding constabularies including a blue river depicting the Thames river and five crowns palisado depicting the five founding forces. The stag is a symbol of the county of Berkshire, the ox a symbol of the county of Oxfordshire and the swan a symbol of the county of Buckinghamshire. Together they represent the ceremonial counties of the force area.

Thames Valley Police is overseen by a locally elected Thames Valley Police and Crime Commissioner. The incumbent commissioner is Matthew Barber, a Conservative Party candidate elected in May 2021. The police and crime commissioner is scrutinised by the Thames Valley Police and Crime Panel. Thames Valley was previously overseen by a police authority consisting of 19 members, made up of councillors, members from unitary authorities, independents and a magistrate.

In April 2011 the force adopted a local policing model and was split into twelve local policing areas (LPAs), each led by a Superintendent or Chief Superintendent. These consist of one or two local authority areas. The LPAs in turn are split into a number of "neighbourhoods" based on wards and parishes.

Each LPA is sub divided into neighbourhood wards, which are covered by a dedicated policing team that works together with the local community and partners to tackle local priorities and community crimes. NHPTs are typically conduct high visibility patrols in their local areas, engaging with the community and solving issues affecting them.

Frontline response officers who work out of patrol bases in the force area and are tasked with patrolling and responding to 999 calls. Officers also conduct investigations into the calls they attend. These officers are often issued with the TASER X2. ICR officers may be tasked to patrol high crime areas for an increased police presence or to conduct follow up investigations. Officers use the Vauxhall Astra Estate, Mitsubishi L200, Peugeot 308 SW and Vauxhall Vivaro to conduct their patrols.

Thames Valley Police have approximately 52 operational police dogs. The dogs are mostly donated from the RSPCA or public, and are trained at the Force Training Centre. They usually serve until they are 8 years old, receiving refresher training every year, and then living with their handler after retirement. They are part of the Joint Operations Unit with Hampshire Police. The dog section operates with marked and unmarked Mitsubishi Outlanders and Ford Mondeo estates.

Thames Valley Police patrols 196 mile (315 km) of motorways, the most of any police force in the UK. The unit are involved in a variety of searching operations in river, underwater, underground, and cliff face conditions, searching for bodies, explosives, drugs, property, contraband and firearms and environments that can be affected by Chemical, Biological, Radioactive and Nuclear radiation.

The Marine Support Unit carries out regular patrols of the Thames Valley and Hampshire's waterways, as well as covering special events including Henley Royal Regatta and Reading Festival.

The Thames Valley Mounted Branch based at Milton Keynes Police Station. The unit has nine police horses. The unit is responsible for preventing equine crime, assisting in searches of rural areas, and mainly maintaining public order at demonstrations and sporting events, including the four football grounds in Thames Valley, as well as conducting deployments in Hampshire.

Based in Heyford Park, formerly RAF Upper Heyford, in Oxfordshire. The POD is responsible for providing tactical support during spontaneous or pre planned events that may result in public disorder. This includes sporting events such as football matches and Royal Ascot, music festivals such as Reading Festival, and lawful demonstrations.

Thames Valley Police has the largest non Metropolitan Police Service operated Protection Group. This highly specialist department are responsible for guarding multiple fixed locations and protecting any visiting parties that require special attention. The officers on this department are some of the most highly trained and skilled within the force. They also supply an Armed Support Vehicle to support the static sites and deal with intense spontaneous incidents. The officers in the unit are required to pass stringent testing, they are Authorised Firearms Officers and also trained in advanced driving, advanced first aid, method of entry amongst many other highly specialist skills.

Thames Valley Police's Counter Terrorist Unit is responsible for responding to any search related or explosive or terrorist incident, working with Protection Group to guard anyone deemed to be at risk and with dog section to locate the explosive. The unit has four explosive ordnance disposal advisors.

The South East Regional Organised Crime Unit (SEROCU) is responsible for delivering specialist and niche capabilities to Thames Valley Police, Hampshire Constabulary, Surrey Police and Sussex Police, including investigating cyber and complex, organised crime.

The headquarters of Thames Valley Police is at Oxford Road, Kidlington, Oxfordshire. Thames Valley Police has 48 police stations, with 16 front counters open to the public. The force is covered by two control rooms, one in Abingdon, and one in Milton Keynes. The three police contact 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 at the force headquarters in Kidlington, and separate teams within the Abingdon and Milton Keynes control rooms. The contact centres handle all emergency, non emergency and enquiry calls from the public. Sulhamstead House in Sulhamstead, near Reading, is the Force Training Centre. It also houses the Thames Valley Police Museum, as well as operational units and fleet workshops. Upper Heyford Park serves as the force's Public Order Department base and training centre. There are also several roads policing bases at strategic locations around the force at Abingdon, Bicester, Taplow, Amersham, Milton Keynes, and Three Mile Cross. Many of these also feature armouries for the Armed Response Unit.

Male officers typically can wear a flat cap or traditional custodian helmet, while females are issued the bowler hat. The custodian helmet was dropped for practicality and cost reasons in 2009, but was reintroduced in 2018 yet is only typically seen by officers conducting foot patrols. Traffic officers wear either a white flat cap or bowler hat. In 2009 Thames Valley Police proposed to be the first force to introduce the use of baseball caps as a primary mode of headgear. After trials were conducted the proposal was dropped as being 'a step too far from the professional image of the force'. Other units tend to wear police baseball caps, with other specialist headgear worn accordingly.

A report from March 2010 by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary marked Thames Valley Police as 'fair' on local crime and policing, 'fair' on protection from serious harm and 'fair' on confidence and satisfaction. In detail, Thames Valley was awarded only one 'excellent' for reducing road death and injury. They were 'fair' in all other categories except 'solving crime' and 'comparative satisfaction of BME community' and 'low/medium' for 'number of police officers and PCSOs'. They were praised for their 14% reduction in burglary after 'Operation Breaker' in July 2009.

On 30 May 2007 at Thames Valley Police headquarters in Kidlington whilst teaching a half day course on firearms, PC David Micklethwaite demonstrated a Magnum .44 revolver which he had mistakenly loaded with live rounds. He pointed the gun at Keith Tilbury, a police phone operator attending the course, and fired the gun, almost killing Tilbury. The firearms instructor was reported to have failed the qualification at a Metropolitan Police training course, but TVP decided he would pass their less stringent test and was therefore suitable to teach the lesson, despite not having been provided with additional training since failing the Metropolitan Police course. The instructor was told to cover the lesson at short notice and accidentally picked up a live round from the force's armoury instead of dummy rounds. This mistake occurred due to both live and dummy rounds both being kept in the same Quality Street tin. Keith Tilbury underwent immediate surgery to his bowel, kidney, lung and liver. In court, it was said he was unlikely to work again. Thames Valley Police pleaded guilty to breaching regulations; they were fined £40,000 and £25,000 for legal costs. Constable Micklethwaite initially denied any wrongdoing, but later admitted to breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act. PC Micklethwaite was not charged with misconduct because he retired from the Thames Valley Police before misconduct proceedings could be completed.

In 2007 Thames Valley Police admitted to being one of five UK forces that had employed Police Community Support Officers that were aged 16. This is not illegal as the minimum age limit of 18 applies to Constables, not PCSOs. However, concerns were raised that this represented "policing on the cheap" as candidates aged under 18 have a different wage scale and could cost £10,000 less per annum. It was also feared that the officers were being placed in unreasonable danger as PCSOs and police have been attacked and stabbed in the past.

Proposals made by the Home Secretary on 20 March 2006 would see the force stay as a single strategic police force for the area, a merger with Hampshire Constabulary having been rejected.

In 2010, it was reported that Thames Valley Police had to make savings of £52million over the next four years. Chief Constable Thornton said that they would have to 'cut back on all non essential activity'. £347million of savings were identified including back office cuts and efficiency measures, as well as cutting officers numbers by 10%, meaning 800 officers.

The fictional Inspector Morse, the main character in 13 novels by Colin Dexter and 33 television episodes by ITV, works for Thames Valley Police, but in the spin off series, Lewis, the force is referred to as Oxfordshire Police. The prequel spin off Endeavour covers Morse's early years in Oxford City Police and takes its merger into Thames Valley Police as a continuing theme. In 1982 the BBC broadcast a nine part series by Roger Graef and Charles Stewart entitled Police, which showed a fly 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. In 1987, Thames Valley police were in the news because they failed to stop a gunman from killing 15 members of the public and 1 unarmed Police Officer. The gunman took his own life before being arrested; this came to be known as the Hungerford massacre. Between 2003 and 2008 a Sky1 programme, Road Wars, followed the Roads Policing Proactive and Problem Solving Team while they carried out their duties. The series followed a select group of officers on duty, who as a result became too well known causing the Chief Constable to ask Sky to move their programme to another force. More recently, Thames Valley Police has featured in Channel 4's Catching a Killer, which follows Major Crime Team officers as they investigate murders. Following the killing of Andrew Harper in service in 2019, The Killing of PC Harper: A Widow's Fight for Justice aired in 2022.

Thames Valley Police and Hampshire Police authorities have agreed to share ICT support and infrastructure, with all IT workers now employees of Thames Valley Police. This will also include the Isle of Wight, a division of Hampshire Police. The partnership in Information Technology is the first of its kind in the country.

Thames Valley Police is the lead force in the Chiltern Transport Consortium (CTC), providing the fleet and maintenance for 6 different police forces. Members include the British Transport Police, Civil Nuclear Constabulary, Bedfordshire Police, Hertfordshire Police and Cambridgeshire Police.

The Thames Valley Police Museum is located within Sulhamstead House, known locally as the 'White House', at Sulhamstead in the English county of Berkshire. The site was formerly the headquarters of the Berkshire Constabulary, and is now the training centre for the Thames Valley Police. The museum is open by appointment and on Wednesdays 12 1pm. The museum includes displays on the history of Thames Valley Police and the five police forces that were amalgamated to form the force in 1968; the Buckinghamshire Constabulary, the Berkshire Constabulary, Oxford City Police, the Oxfordshire Constabulary and the Reading Borough Police. The museum's collections include items from the Great Train Robbery of 1963, uniforms, equipment, medals, photographs, scenes of crime evidence, and occurrence and charge books. In 2006, the exhibition space of the museum was renovated. Since September 2017, the museum has been temporarily closed prior to relocation.