New team to manage police data for Thames Valley and Hampshire

The forces have collaborated to create a Joint Information Management Unit which will help to ensure information held is “fit for purpose, held responsibly and disclosed lawfully”.
The two forces have been combining services such as roads policing and ICT in recent years in an effort to reduce costs and improve efficiency.
No jobs will be lost as a result of the move, and both forces have already completed the necessary restructure.
The head of the joint unit, Marion Peulevé, said it would provide central direction, guidance and services to assist both forces to effectively manage and safeguard information.
The future of policing across the region looks increasingly to be driven by a need to share resources, and the latest move follows other collaborations and regional mergers.
Recently Thames Valley Police and Hampshire Constabulary appointed a joint assistant chief constable for operations across both forces, covering Hampshire, Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire.
John Campbell will head up the new Joint Operations Unit (JOU), covering road policing, firearms operational support and the dog section, for a trial period of nine months.
The joint roads policing unit was the first element of the JOU to come into existence in January, and other parts of the unit will follow in the coming months, concluding with the joint firearms unit after the Olympics.
Forensics, legal services and IT systems will also be shared with Hampshire, Surrey and Sussex as part of a £6.2billion country-wide savings plan identified by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) last year.
Thames Valley Police has to find about £16m worth of savings in the next financial year as part of a 4-year plan to save £52m, and Hampshire Constabulary must save £20m in the current financial year.
In April 2010, regional Witness Protection, Covert and Technical Support units were implemented, and in September 2010, the South East Serious and Organised Crime Directorate was established comprising the Regional Asset Recovery Team (RART), the Regional Intelligence Unit (RIU) and the Serious Crime Investigation Team (SCIT).