Thames Valley Police release workload statistics
The force says last year was a year like no other
New statistics show Thames Valley Police received nearly one million contacts from the public, attended 170,000 incidents, and made 31,000 arrests, in a single year – with officers driving more than 13 million miles in the process.
The statistics show activity from the last financial year, from 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023.
This period saw the undertake one of the largest policing operations in their history with the committal service of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in Windsor.
They also policed Reading Festival, Royal Ascot, Henley Regatta, and four of the UEFA Women's EURO 2022 matches at Stadium MK.
Last year, police officers made 30,903 arrests in relation to a range of crimes, attended over 8,000 road traffic collisions, found 5,735 missing people, and sadly attended 1,700 tragic sudden deaths, which involves supporting families at the most difficult time.
Action on domestic abuse and violence against women and girls
Police say they're completely committed to tackling domestic violence, with 30% of all arrests made being related to domestic violence.
Extensive focus on domestic abuse led to a 27% increase in formal action for domestic abuse cases (3,138 to 3,987).
The stats have also seen a 52% increase in charges for sexual offences (not including rape) and a 36% increase in stalking and harassment charges.
Last year also saw a slight drop in charges brought in rape cases (from 126 to 121). However, Police say they are monitoring this very closely, and with a new structure in place to scrutinise investigations into rape and sexual offences, are confident of improved outcomes for victims.
In April 2022, the force launched its strategy to tackle violence against women and girls, focused on dealing with perpetrators and working with partners to identify sexual and violent offending at the earliest opportunity.
Tackling serious violence and knife crime continues to be a priority. Through proactive work, Police have seen a 42% decrease in homicide cases from the previous year and arrested 841 people for crimes where a knife is involved, which is a two per cent rise.
Tackling knife-enabled crime in all its forms
Police launched Operation Deter in Milton Keynes, which has also now been rolled out to Aylesbury, Slough, and Reading. Under this initiative, individuals arrested over the age of 18 for a knife-related offence will, wherever possible, be charged and remanded immediately and put before the courts.
If the individual is under 18, they will be visited by the Youth Offending Team and a plan is drawn up for intervention and rapid commencement of the Youth Justice Process.
Additionally, they say they supported the Knife Angel being hosted in Milton Keynes and Slough, where a commitment was made by them and their partners to stand together on tackling serious violence.
In the past 12 months, officers began using a new application developed by the Thames Valley Violence Reduction Unit to target violence hotspot areas.
So far, they have made 10,000 patrols to reduce crime and tackle those carrying knives.
Building confidence among all communities
The Serious and Organised Crime Unit arrested 628 offenders involved in organised crime and seized and confiscated 34 firearms. In addition, the team secured 107 convictions amounting to more than 503 years in prison and safeguarded 149 adults and children believed to be at risk from these criminal enterprises.
On the roads, our officers from our Roads Policing and response teams attended over 8,700 road traffic collisions, with 2,144 arrests for drink driving, 1,305 people arrested for driving while using a mobile phone, 1,610 people arrested for not wearing a seatbelt, and over 166,000 people were caught speeding through speed cameras and through officer detected speeding.
Chief Constable Jason Hogg said:
“Over the last year, we’ve responded to almost one million contacts from the public and attended 170,000 incidents. That’s an incredible amount for our force.
“I’m very proud of the job our officers, staff and volunteers do in keeping our communities in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire safe, not only by responding to emergencies but also disrupting and preventing crime across our area.
“Increased charges for knife crime and sexual offences show how our proactive work targeting these crime types is showing real progress. But behind these numbers are the victims of crime, and a priority for us over the coming year is to place them at the centre of our service and work tirelessly to improve our service to all.”