Dear Police and Crime Commissioner, Philip Wilkinson,

This week, as you will know, I celebrated one year in role as Chief Constable of Wiltshire Police. On 27 February 2023, I arrived in this wonderful county with the determination and commitment to making Wiltshire Police the very best it can be. I made a public promise that within 12 months, the Force would look and feel very different, and the standard of policing would have improved.

One year on, the Force is performing more effectively than it has for several years. We have made a programme of changes that will seek to ensure that victims of crime, and all of our communities, receive the very best service from us. I, and my Wiltshire Police colleagues, know there is absolutely more we need to do, but I believe we are on the right path to delivering an ever-improving policing service to ensure we are ‘Keeping Wiltshire Safe’.

Upon arriving in Force in 2023, I immediately set three operational priorities – Safer Public Spaces, Violence and Burglary. Just some of the highlights we have delivered over the year are:

Safer Public Spaces

Violence

Burglary

I feel so privileged to hold the role of Chief Constable for Wiltshire and my determination to make this one of the best forces in the country remains as strong now as it was a year ago. My teams and I will be relentless in our efforts to improve, and I look forward to our communities telling us if they can see and feel the improvements we are making.

HMICFRS

This year will be a significant year for the Force as we seek to consolidate our various strands of improvement into long term, meaningful and sustained change. My Chief Officer team and I had the absolute pleasure of meeting with His Majesty’s Inspector (HMI) Wendy Williams and some of her colleagues from HMICFRS this week, where we were able to explain the changes we are making, the improvements we have seen and the areas where we are now focused.

This briefing was ahead of the next HMICFRS Policing Effectiveness, Efficiency and Legitimacy (PEEL) inspection which will take place in March 2024, and I welcome the independent scrutiny this will bring to assess where we have improved and what more we need to do. I will bring further updates to you and our communities as we receive feedback from this process.

As part of our improvements, Wiltshire Police is committed to more community engagement – particular with our younger community members. Last Sunday, I was absolutely delighted to host over 100 members of Girlguiding across Wiltshire North and Wiltshire South, and together we launched the Wiltshire Police Girl Guide Police Challenge Badge.

During the day, the guides took part in a number of problem solving and teamwork activities, such as ‘design your own police force’, ‘solve a crime’ and ‘uniformed operations challenge’. In addition, the Guides and Rangers had the opportunity to speak to officers and staff from roles and departments from all across the Force to find out more about policing and the huge opportunities it offers, and we hosted a tour of our control room.

It was an incredible day, and I was delighted you were able to join us Commissioner, to see first-hand the contribution these young people made and how they were able to gain a broader understanding of the role of a police service. I would like to say a huge thank you to Wiltshire Girlguiding leaders and all my colleagues who volunteered their spare time to support this wonderful day.

However, most importantly, I want to thank all of the Guides and Rangers who joined us on the day for their individual and collective contributions, energy and boundless enthusiasm. I was so very proud to see so many positive young role models and the way in which they all embraced the challenges and maximised all the opportunities of the day was wonderful to witness. I was thrilled to award them all with the very first Wiltshire Police Girl Guide Police Challenge badge at the end of the day.

You can read more about the day here.

We will be officially launching the Girl Guide badge pack on 8 March, as part of our celebrations of International Women’s Day, and all Girl Guide units will then be able to download the pack from our website and the county Girl Guide websites too.

In the Autumn, I hope to also launch the Wiltshire Police Scout Police Challenge badge. I will keep you, and our communities, updated on my plans – and if any of the Scout Leaders across the county would like to be part of this next adventure, then please may I invite them to get in touch through the Wiltshire Police website.

Recruitment

This week, I also want to inform you that we have launched a new entry route in to policing. Until now, the routes in to policing have required the necessity for a degree requirement – either prior to joining or as part of the training. However, I am delighted to say that on Thursday we launched the Police Constable Entry Programme, a route which does not require a degree.

I am so pleased to see this put in place, as I believe it will open policing up to a far wider range of potential candidates from all our communities, with different views, background, thinking and experience.

Policing really is a career like no other and I encourage anyone who is considering a career in the police service to take a look and consider joining Wiltshire Police. Recruitment through this new route is open now, and the application deadline is 10 March.

You can find out more here.

One career within policing is of course that of a police dog handler – and I would like to highlight the incredible work of dog handler PC Cindy Hargreave and her police dog Betty. The pair won the winning trophy in one of the categories at the recent Southwest and Wales Regional Police Dog Trials last weekend.

Betty clearly has good ancestry, with her brother a previous national champion! Six-year-old Betty and PC Hargreave won the award in the category of ‘search’, where Betty had to search a building for two people, both entirely hidden from view. I would like to say a huge congratulations to Betty and PC Hargreave on their award. Our Police Dogs play a vital and important role in protecting vulnerable people and helping keep the public safe - we couldn’t do it without them.

This Sunday, I very much look forward to joining you at the Salisbury Rule of Law Service at Salisbury Cathedral in honour of our High Sheriff. I am delighted and honoured to have been invited to attend.

This is an important service, which is steeped in history and dates back to the Magna Carta of 1215, and where better to celebrate this than in the wonderful city of Salisbury.

The Angiolini Inquiry

In closing my letter to you today, yesterday saw the publication of Part 1 of the report into The Angiolini Inquiry – an inquiry which was commissioned by the former Home Secretary in 2021 and led by Rt Hon. Lady Elish Angiolini - to look at how off duty Metropolitan Police officer Wayne Couzens was able to abduct, rape and murder Sarah Everard.

The report, which is an extremely difficult and disturbing read, has found 16 recommendations for policing, across areas such as guidance and training, recruitment and vetting policies and practices, decision making and culture. My colleagues, including College of Policing Chief Executive Andy Marsh and NPCC Chief Constable Gavin Stephens, spoke on behalf of policing yesterday to ensure that the public know that we have heard, we have listened and we will take action.

Horrific cases, such as the tragic murder of Sarah, have dented trust in policing across certain communities, particularly women and girls, so ensuring that we have a workforce built on integrity and professionalism is absolutely vital to rebuild trust and confidence.

Let me be absolutely clear – whilst we know the vast majority of our workforce are committed individuals who act with the highest levels of integrity - police perpetrators of abuse must know that there is nowhere to hide. No officer or staff member engaged in abusive or inappropriate behaviour should think that their conduct will be tolerated.

I am absolutely determined to foster a culture within Wiltshire Police where colleagues feel empowered to report any and all concerns, and I will take immediate and proactive action. There will be no half measures – public confidence and the confidence of our people depends upon it.

Within the Force, we are ensuring that our vetting procedures and processes are in line with the recommendations made within the 2022 HMICFRS thematic inspection on vetting. Recognising that vetting of an individual is a moment in time, in line with the Vetting Authorised Professional Practice (APP), we rigorously apply annual integrity reviews for officers, staff and volunteers to make sure we are able to act quickly on any concerns highlighted through this process.

I also look forward to the introduction of the new continuous integrity screening solution which would mean all police staff, officers and volunteers are automatically checked through the Police National Database regularly with any new information highlighted quickly for action.

In addition, we will soon see the changes to the dismissals and misconduct process announced in August 2023, which will significantly strengthen our ability to rid policing of those not fit to serve the public, giving Chief Constables the lead in the misconduct process.

What happened to Sarah Everard is shocking and horrific. Her tragic murder has deeply affected all those who work across policing and will never be forgotten. My deepest thoughts, and those of Wiltshire Police, remain with Sarah’s family and all those affected by her loss at what must continue to be the most terrible time for them.

Kindest regards,

Catherine Roper

Chief Constable, Wiltshire Police