Matthew Barber, Police and Crime Commissioner for Thames Valley, discusses his his spending plans for Thames Valley Police which will see new investment to keep our streets safer and bring more criminals to justice.
Video Transcript for Thames Valley Police Funding 2022/23
0:00 I’m Matthew Marber and a key part of my
0:02 role as your Police and Crime
0:04 Commissioner is working with the Chief
0:05 Constable to set the budget for Thames
0:07 Valley Police.
0:08 The plans I’ve signed off for this year
0:10 will see an increase of nearly £27m
0:12 to support policing
0:14 across our communities. Thanks to an
0:16 increase in Home Office funding of more
0:18 than £15mm and a rise in Council
0:20 Tax below the rate of inflation of just
0:22 83p a month for a band D household,
0:25 I’ll be able to invest in new
0:26 initiatives to cut crime.
0:28 These plans don’t just strengthen the
0:30 capabilities for the coming year, but lay
0:32 the foundations for investment for the
0:34 medium term
0:35 to ensure that as police officer numbers
0:37 continue to increase, the force is
0:39 equipped to focus on the crimes matter
0:41 most to the public and deliver justice
0:43 for victims.
0:44 The plans I’ve set out will enable the
0:46 development of a specialist rape and
0:48 sexual offences team,
0:50 improvements in forensics to speed up
0:52 investigations, and a dedicated team to
0:55 fast-track cases and reduce delays for
0:57 victims.
0:58 I’ll be able to continue recruiting more
1:00 police officers beyond the nationally
1:02 funded uplift programme,
1:04 and we’ll be able to continue the work
1:06 of the Rural Crime Taskforce to see the
1:08 launch of a drugs task force.
1:10 I’m delighted to have received
1:11 cross-party support for my budget plans
1:14 and attention now turns to working
1:16 closely with the Chief Constable to put
1:18 these plans into place, to reduce crime
1:21 and shift the focus to crime prevention
1:23 in order to make all of our communities
1:24 safer.