Staff retention a challenge for Thames Valley Police - senior officer

Supt Gavin Wong currently heads the joint firearms unit for Thames Valley Police and Hampshire Constabulary

Retaining personnel is among the biggest challenges for police forces, a senior Thames Valley Police officer has said.

Supt Gavin Wong has been involved in the force's "action plan" to reflect the ethnic make-up of the population it serves.

A study released last year found black, Asian and ethnic minority groups had been underrepresented in the force.

Policing still offered "so many opportunities" for a career, he said.

Supt Wong currently heads the joint firearms unit for Thames Valley Police and Hampshire Constabulary.

Speaking on BBC Radio Berkshire, he admitted the police service could be a "lonely place" for someone joining from a black or ethnic minority background, adding: "I think its improved over the last 30 years.

"It's really important we have people that are representative of the community - you've got to increase trust and confidence.

"One way of doing that is seeing that visibly diverse workforce - that's reassuring for communities and helps us understand communities better."

He said policing faced challenges affecting the wider workforce: "The world is different now - 30 years ago, you a had a defined career with the police.

"There is a danger for policing - people have more short term aspirations and want to move around in their careers.

"For us, we want to keep people here to get their experience and help develop other people."

'Trust and confidence'

The force, which serves Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire, last year said it was developing an action plan to "enhance the experiences of all ethnically diverse colleagues".

The Thames Valley force serves about 2.4m people, of which 15.4% is made up of black, Asian and ethnic minority groups.

However, 6.5% of its officers are from such backgrounds and they have been consistently underrepresented.

Mandatory anti-racism training has been introduced to tackle racism, discrimination and bias following criticism of police forces across the country.

Supt Wong said: "When you see so many bad things, it does feel we're at a strange place in policing.

"But for the first time in 30 years, there is a concerted effort to really address the trust and confidence in our black and ethnic minority communities - that feels really positive for me and it's an opportunity, despite what has happened, to make things better.

"If we can get people in the front door and retain them, train and develop them, treat them well, it doesn't matter if they leave later on because they'll tell other people it's a great place to work.

"We need to make ourselves fundamentally a great employer."