Thames Valley Police graded '˜Good' for Legitimacy

Police legitimacy, which underpins the UK approach to ‘policing by consent’, is the focus of one of the annual inspections that HMICFRS carries out on every police force in England and Wales. Legitimacy is required for the police to be effective and efficient and it also motivates the public to co-operate with the police and respect the law.

TVP has been rated as Good for how legitimately the force keeps people safe and reduces crime. This is the same rating that the force received in 2016.

HMICFRS confirmed that the force is good at treating the people it serves with fairness and respect. The inspection report stated that TVP is good at ensuring its workforce behaves ethically and lawfully and is also good at treating its workforce with fairness and respect.

Commenting on the report Francis Habgood, Thames Valley Police chief constable said: “We are very pleased to receive a Good rating from HMICFRS in terms of how legitimately the force operates to serve the communities of Thames Valley. It is also welcome that the inspectors noted the work being done by the force to support all our staff through our ethics training and wellbeing programmes.

“Our people operate in very tough environments and by the very nature of our work they encounter members of the public who are often going through traumatic experiences. I welcome the recognition of the inspectors that our people are good at treating people with fairness and respect.

“Today’s report suggested areas for improvement and we will be addressing these areas over the coming months.”

Areas for improvement outlined in the report include: developing greater external scrutiny of the use of force, making information more widely available about how to make a complaint against the police and improving the confidence of officers and staff in raising ethical issues.

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