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Chief Constable Sara Thornton

Ms Sara Thornton QPM (Queen's Police Medal) - Chief Constable

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In April 2007, Sara Thornton was appointed Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police, the largest non-metropolitan police force in England and Wales.

She is a member of the Association of Chief Police Officers’ (ACPO) Terrorism and Allied Matters for the South East of England. She was the chair of the ACPO Intelligence Portfolio from 2003 to 2007 and was responsible for the first two National Strategic Assessments in 2004.

Sara Thornton served with the Metropolitan Police from 1986 and, over the next 15 years, her career alternated between operational postings in West London and strategic roles within New Scotland Yard. She joined Thames Valley Police as Assistant Chief Constable Specialist Operations in November 2000 and, in August 2003, was appointed Deputy Chief Constable where she led the largest organisational change programme in the 41-year history of Thames Valley Police. In January 2006, she was appointed Acting Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police.

In 2006, she was awarded the Queen's Police Medal (QPM). She is also a member of the Royal College of Defence Studies, a member of the Advisory Board for the Oxford University Centre for Criminology and an active alumnus of the Windsor Leadership Trust.

She lives in Oxford and has two sons, aged 20 and 11.