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Tactical Support heads of department

[image: Chief Inspector Steph Cook] Chief Inspector Steph Cook has 26 years service, the majority of which has been operational. She worked as a patrol officer at Newbury, Witney and Oxford/Cowley and on the Oxon Family Protection Unit (now Child Abuse Investigation Unit) before being promoted to (Control Room) Sergeant in 1992. Steph then worked at Witney and Oxford/Cowley, before being promoted to the role of Partnership Inspector in 2001. She was then appointed Deputy LPA Commander for Oxford, prior to moving on to Tactical Support, where she was responsible for Air Support, Protection Group, Dog Section, Mounted Section, Counter Terrorist Wing, Specialist Search and Recovery Team and Public Order. She now heads up the non-collaborated Tactical Support departments for Thames Valley, (as above, excluding the Dog Section, and including CBRN), and Protection Group which sits under the Firearms strand of the Joint (Thames Valley Police/Hampshire Constabulary) Operations Unit.

[image: Superintendent Tony Ismay] Superintendent Tony Ismay has 26 years police service, the majority of which has been served with Thames Valley Police. On appointment, Tony was a uniform reactive constable serving at Maidenhead and Reading police stations. After six years service, Tony joined the Tactical Firearms Group (TFG) for 18 months before he gained promotion to the rank of Sergeant where he had further exposure to the TFG and Close Protection Unit.

In 2004 and on promotion to Inspector, Tony returned to Reading to lead one of the core reactive teams. In 2006, he became the Local Police Area Commander for Wokingham and, in 2008, took up the post of Superintendent Operational Support for the County of Buckinghamshire. Since February 2009, Tony has been the Head of Tactical Support for Thames Valley Police.

In April 2011, Tony became a Hampshire Constabulary officer as part of the Joint Operations Unit collaboration project between Thames Valley Police and Hampshire Constabulary. Tony is now the Head of Tactical Firearms and is responsible for all operational firearms disciplines across the two forces.

[image: Chief Inspector Steve Williams] Chief Inspector Steve Williams joined Thames Valley Police in 1990. On appointment he was a uniform constable serving at Bletchley and Milton Keynes police stations. After six years service, the majority of which was as a local officer, Steve joined the Tactical Firearms Group (TFG) before he gained promotion to the rank of Sergeant and returned to Milton Keynes.

After two years, Steve returned to the TFG as a Sergeant and later took on the Acting Inspector role, where he stayed for four years until 2005, when he was promoted to Inspector on to the former Buckinghamshire Basic Command Unit (BCU). There his service included a period as the Detective Inspector Operations and the Deputy Commander role at Aylesbury.

In 2008 he was promoted to Chief Inspector and after a short while retuned to the TFG as the department's head. In September 2010, Steve was temporarily promoted to the rank of Superintendent and seconded to ACPO (TAM) for six months. There he was the national lead for developing firearms tactics and integration with the police, military and other partners to mitigate the threat of terrorism.