Inspection finds Thames Valley Police need to do more for vulnerable people

A police force needs to improve how it protects vulnerable people, an inspection has found.

Thames Valley Police was inspected by His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services in July.

Out of eight areas of the force's policing, it graded one good, two adequate, four requires improvement and one inadequate.

Deputy Chief Constable Ben Snuggs said it had made "demonstrable progress".

The inspectorate also said was pleased with the force's response to the concerns it had raised.

His Majesty's Inspector of Constabulary Roy Wilsher said: "I am satisfied with some aspects of the performance of Thames Valley Police in keeping people safe, reducing crime and providing victims with an effective service.

"But there are areas in which the force needs to improve.

"The force has nine multi-agency safeguarding hubs (MASH) due to the size of the force area, and I am concerned about some of the processes within these hubs."

The hubs assess and manage the risk to individuals who have been identified as a vulnerable adults or children, many having suffered domestic abuse.

In some cases the report found that some of the hubs' staffing levels were not sufficient to deal with demand.

This meant there were often queues of referrals and delays in putting in place strategies to protect vulnerable people from harm.

Mr Wilsher said: "[The force] needs to make sure it has effective and consistent processes in place to protect vulnerable victims and share information promptly with other safeguarding agencies.

"The force had a change in leadership in the six months leading up to our inspection, and the new team has a clear purpose that it has communicated well, which focuses on building trust, serving victims, fighting crime and valuing the workforce."

The inspection also found other areas that require improvement were: investigating crime, responding to the public, managing offenders and leadership and force management.

Deputy Chief Constable Snuggs said: "We've made significant inroads in relation to [the hubs], we've reduced the queues that were there by 80%.

"We are in a really good stable state with excellent performance across those MASH's and His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary were able to come back in October, at our request, and saw the demonstrable progress that we've made already."

Matthew Barber, Thames Valley Police and Crime Commissioner said "I take the findings from this inspection extremely seriously.

"From regular communication with the chief constable I know that actions have already been implemented since this inspection, including increasing staffing levels within safeguarding teams, which are addressing the issues highlighted.

"I will continue to monitor this to ensure that sustainable systems and effective processes are in place which are better placed to respond to demand."

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