Statement from Chief Constable John Campbell
Thames Valley Police chief's update on lockdown enforcement
Thames Valley Police (TVP) Chief Constable John Campbell has spoken of the work of his force amid the coronavirus crisis.
In a video, the commanding officer commended his staff for their activities on the ground, as well as their dedication to day-to-day policing in an extraordinary time.
It was his second message since police across the UK were granted sweeping new powers by the Government to crack down on social gathering and unnecessary travel.
He said: “In terms of the force itself, we remain resilient.
“We have about 20 per cent of our workforce currently either self-isolating or off-work because of pre-existing medical conditions.
“That’s about normal for any of the organisations at the current time.
“I am pleased to say that, over the last few days, we’ve had 500 of our own staff come back into work, having previously been self-isolating.
“But we do have to make sure that we are resilient not only now, but for the future as well.
“And we’ve put into place some changes to make sure that we can not only protect the public over the next few weeks and months, but also protect our own staff, and they are linked.
“Officers are not immune from contracting the virus.”
The Covid-19 lockdown has prompted some organisational changes at TVP.
Ch Con Campbell said: “We’ve merged some of our teams together to give us a greater resilience in some of our patrol and response teams, as well.
“But we are also keeping a reserve of officers available to us at short notice, so that if we do get a surge in demand, then we can call them in, and they can deal with that very, very quickly.
“We’ve also asked whether or not any recently retired officers would like to come back and work with us over the next few weeks and months, and we’ve had over 200 officers make contact, and my thanks to them.
“We also have available to us Special Constabulary officers, and they’re also being held in reserve.
“And that’s important, because it means that they’re not going to get the virus, or we can protect them as much as we possibly can, and also, they’re therefore not going to be potentially transmitting to their colleagues, or to any of the members of the public that they work for.”
The chief constable also highlighted the peculiarities of the present situation, which has, in many respects, allowed police resources to be utilised more effectively.
He stated: “One of the reasons we can remain resilient is because we are actually getting less calls from the public, in respect to some of the historical types of things that the police would deal with.
“For example, there is almost no night-time economy now, in terms of pubs and clubs.
“People are staying in their homes, they’re not going about their normal activities during the day.
“The roads are quieter.
“All of that means that we get less calls from the public, and that’s quite important, because we are then able to use some of that capacity to enforce the new powers that we’ve been given.
Enforcement of the restrictions – as opposed to productive engagement with the public – is always a last resort, he stressed.
Yet Ch Con Campbell does allude to recent incidents of disorder relating to the lockdown, saying: “We have had some examples in the last few days where we have had to make arrests, in respect of people breaching the legislation.
“A number of people are now serving custodial sentences because of that, normally associated with some other criminal acts that they’ve been committing at the time.
“We did have an incident where a member of the public coughed at our officers, and he is, too, currently in prison.”
This is, however, by no means the general experience of policing in the Thames Valley amid the outbreak.
Ch Con Campbell has been impressed by both public and police attitudes.
He closed the statement with a message of goodwill: “Thank you to all of my staff – whatever role they’re doing – for being there, and continuing to do whatever they can, willingly and enthusiastically, to protect us all, save lives and protect the NHS.
“But can I also thank you, members of the public from across the Thames Valley.
“Thank you for complying with the new rules, as difficult as that is.
“And thank you for the support you are showing to my officers when you are speaking with them, engaging with them.”
