A General Overview
The Roads Policing department provides a wealth of expertise in addition to general policing responsibilities and police area support.
We aim to provide a high quality of service to both public and colleagues alike. How we carry out our responsibilities is just as important as what we do. Our appearance, image and professionalism is maintained to very high standards.
Roads Policing is constantly evolving with new focus, clear direction and improved performance; providing ever higher levels of support for Thames Valley Police. The department provides a vital service in policing the strategic road network, detecting crime and disrupting the activities of criminals who use our roads and our intelligence led approach has proved to be extremely successful.
Within the department a small, highly mobile, proactive team target crime and disorder. Since the team’s introduction it has been responsible for the detection of thousands of crimes as well as the capture and prosecution of many main stream criminals.
The department is responsible for policing substantial stretches of the M1, M4, M40 and M25 motorways, a total of 196 miles, more than any other British police force. These roads are amongst the busiest routes in Europe.
Our officers work alongside many other agencies. The Government’s vehicle inspectorate ensures that all vehicles using our roads are mechanically sound and environmentally friendly. They prevent overweight vehicles damaging our roads and dangerously overloading vehicles beyond their weight limits. Customs and Excise officers pursue illegal imports such as drugs and the illegal use of duty free fuels.
Thames Valley Police deploys unmarked vehicles which are video equipped in order to prevent and detect traffic offences and allow officers to catch prolific and extreme offenders.
We are committed to the reduction of death and injury on our roads. The government through their publication ‘Tomorrow’s roads: safer for everyone’ has set targets to significantly reduce road casualties by the year 2010. With continued hard work we aim to turn these tough targets into a reality.
