Public insight and scrutiny
Scrutiny is an integral part of ensuring that Thames Valley Police provides an excellent service and is trusted by all communities. External scrutiny seeks to increase public understanding, legitimacy, confidence and trust in policing.
There are a number of groups which allow members of the public to hold the force to account, at a forcewide and local level, which are recruiting new members for a range of volunteer roles:
- Independent Scrutiny & Oversight Board
- Complaints & Standards Committee Panel member
- Independent Advisory Group member
- Community Scrutiny Panel member
We are committed to supporting members learning and development through training and informal learning sessions and seek your valuable input to help shape and improve what and how services are delivered to our communities.
All applicants will be checked for eligibility and then processed by the Chair of the Group, and offered a place where assessed to meet the relevant criteria. Please click on the headers below to find out more about each group.
For any enquiries relating to our insight and scrutiny panels, please contact [email protected]
The Independent Scrutiny & Oversight Board exists to provide overview, external scrutiny and assurance of the Thames Valley Police Race Action Plan (PRAP). This plan aims to improve the trust and confidence in policing of our workforce and of our ethnic minority communities, especially our Black communities, and address any racial disparities in the service.
ISOB volunteer duties include:
- Hold TVP to account for delivery of the Police Race Action Plan (PRAP) by monitoring and scrutinising the actions taken to implement the Plan
- Engage with internal and external stakeholders and offer advice, shape and support to TVP in the delivery of the Plan
- Establish, with the PRAP team, a baseline from which PRAP progress can be measured
- Use an independent voice to communicate and report on progress against the Action Plan
ISOB is a forcewide committee, with ISOB members are expected to commit the equivalent of 2 working days (16 hours) a month to Committee responsibilities (which will be distributed across multiple tasks) and will meet on a monthly basis.
ISOB members must be 18 years or over and live, work or study within Thames Valley. TVP are committed to the recruitment of culturally diverse members, with a particular focus on representing, involving, and retaining those from under-represented communities and young people.
They must not be a serving TVP police officer, member of staff, TVP Independent Custody Visitor or Misconduct Committee Member.
If you are interested in applying for this role, please visit our vacancies page.
The Complaints and Standards Committee is jointly set-up by the Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police and the Police and Crime Commissioner.
The Committee’s purpose is to conduct regular, thorough reviews of the complaint-handling and review processes within the force and the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC). This includes identifying any discrepancies between the force and OPCC’s perception of proper procedures and the actual experiences of the end user.
C&SC volunteer duties include:
- scrutinise the facts of the complaints under review and assess the effectiveness of their handling and investigation in line with the relevant statutory guidance
- help to ensure that Thames Valley Police achieves the highest levels of integrity and service delivery, thereby enhancing trust and confidence in local policing.
C&SC is a forcewide committee, with members expected to commit the equivalent of 2 working days (16 hours) a month to Committee responsibilities (which will be distributed across multiple tasks) and will meet on a quarterly basis.
C&SC members must be 18 years or over and live, work or study within TVP. They must not be a serving TVP police officer, member of staff, TVP Independent Custody Visitor or Misconduct Committee Member.
If you are interested in applying for this role, please visit our vacancies page.
Independent Advisory Groups help TVP to build insight into the needs, wants and concerns of diverse communities who are under-represented in normal decision making processes. Their insight is used to shape service delivery for the benefit of all our communities and engender trust and confidence in policing.
The groups anticipate and advise TVP on the impact of police actions and the issues of greatest concern to communities and provide constructive suggestions and advice to TVP on ways to improve powers, policies and practice.
IAG volunteer duties include:
- Have an appreciation of resources within communities that may assist to resolve particular incidents and promote and support the creation of partnerships between the police and residents to develop stronger communities
- Provide appropriate independent input from a community perspective on critical incidents; capturing community concerns, challenging assumptions and mindsets and building trust and confidence with families and communities
- Advise upon and support effective engagement strategies that enable interaction with all communities, fostering strong relationships that build trust and confidence, promote community cohesion and encourage the active involvement of people from diverse groups.
- Drive change and improvements in TVP policies and processes
There are 5 IAGs, covering Oxfordshire, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire West and Berkshire East. Meetings are held every quarter for 2 hours with an annual schedule of meetings agreed by IAG Chair and LCU Chief Superintendent. Extraordinary meetings will take place where appropriate outside of this schedule.
IAGs are comprised of members of the public (aged 16+) who live, work or study within TVP, and as far as possible represent the diversity of the communities within each of our Local Command Units (LCUs).
If you are interested in applying for one of these roles, please visit our vacancies page.
Community Scrutiny Panels are a way for our diverse communities to provide oversight and scrutiny of a range of policing encounters in support of an annual programme of work and emerging trends or issues.
The panels build insight into how the police use their powers with a view to highlighting good practice, recommending learning or other actions, as necessary for the Force to consider, and helping the LCU to understand the impact that policing encounters may have on the trust and confidence of communities.
CSP volunteer duties include:
- Make critical observations and examine evidence, in line with official guidance standards, to comment on past activity and specific incidents or data with the intention of making changes for the future
- Provide TVP with a community viewpoint to gauge the quality of policing encounters and the context in which they happen and, therefore, enhance wider understanding by police of the impact of police practices
- Amplify the voices and concerns of the public and strengthen their influence in policing governance
- Drive change and improvements in TVP policies and processes and strategic decision-making
There are 5 CSPs, covering Oxfordshire, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire West and Berkshire East. Full panel meeting will be held every quarter for 2 hours with an annual schedule of meetings agreed by Panel Chair and LCU Leadership Team.
Sub-group meetings will take place every 6 weeks and involve scrutiny of body worn video and records relating to stop & search, use of force and key areas of scrutiny defined within an annual programme of work.
CSPs are comprised of members of the public (aged 16+) who live, work or study within TVP, and as far as possible represent the diversity of the communities within each of our Local Command Units (LCU’s).
If you are interested in applying for one of these roles, please visit our vacancies page.