New Thames Valley Police Chief reveals priorities

The new chief constable of Thames Valley Police Jason Hogg has started work and he's marked his first week with an open letter to residents in Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire.

In the letter, which we've published in full below, he states his three priorities are supporting victims; fighting crime; and building trust and confidence.

Letter in full

This week, I had the immense privilege of commencing in the role as your Chief Constable for Thames Valley Police.

I take this honour incredibly seriously and I am fully committed to working and engaging with you, the public, to ensure Thames Valley Police protects our communities.

As the person responsible for keeping you safe, I feel it’s important that you should know a little bit about me. I’ve been in policing for 27 years and Thames Valley Police since 2016, most recently as Deputy Chief Constable.

I was inspired to join the police when I volunteered at The Gatehouse, a homeless charity in Oxford. Police were called to incidents at the charity. The police officers I met on those occasions inspired me to join the service and I felt excited about the job that they did and the difference they made. I wanted to use their inspiration to give something back to my own community, so in 1995 I joined the police.

As your Chief Constable, I want to share my priorities with you. They are: supporting victims, fighting crime, and building trust and confidence amongst our communities.

Supporting Victims

As an emergency service our response will depend on the seriousness of the incident, and vulnerability of those involved, enabling us to prioritise the nearly two million reports that come into the force every year. We will strive to provide the best possible response and victims will always be at the centre of our service.

Fighting Crime

We will continue to focus on preventing and disrupting crime. However, when crimes do occur, we will pursue those responsible, with an emphasis on neighbourhood crime, tackling knife crime, acquisitive crime and violence against women and girls.

Building Trust and Confidence

I know that trust in policing both nationally and internationally is low. Therefore, everyone in policing needs to take responsibility to build and maintain trust and confidence in the police. I take this responsibility extremely seriously, and although this will undoubtedly take time, we will work tirelessly to build trust through treating everyone with fairness and respect. It will be through having greater visibility within our communities, increased transparency and engagement with all of our communities that we can begin to make strides towards this.

Finally, I want to take this opportunity to thank all our communities for your continued support.

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