Thames Valley Police to tackle sexual violence against women as priority as reports of rape soar

• Watch an extended version of Charlotte Briere-Edney's interview with Chief Constable John Campbell

The Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police has told ITV Meridian his priority over the next year is tackling violence against women.

It comes after figures revealed the number of reported rapes and sexual assaults in the region had increased by more than 30% in the last year.

But Chief Constable John Campbell insisted more reports of such crimes are a good thing.

"So we never set a target for a reduction in rape being reported because we know it's a hidden crime where many women are still not reporting to us.

"You know, increases in those types of crime in reporting are an indication of confidence in our willingness to listen, respond and investigate appropriately."

He also acknowledged that reports of hate crimes had gone up 26% to more than 7,000 in a year.

The head of Thames Valley Police put this down to better awareness of hate crime and maintained his force is diverse enough to meet the challenge.

"We've had a significant increase in the number of black, asian, minority ethnic officers applying and joining Thames Valley Police.

"Whenever we open recruitment, more recently, 20% have been from black, asian, minority ethnic communities.

"And likewise, women. 50% of my new recruits are women. We've got more senior officers as female officers and role models. And the great majority of my senior managers of police staff are female."

Thames Valley Police has been recruiting heavily recently, and now has a record 4,600 officers.

Some crime numbers have showed improvements in the year to March 2022, for example knife crime and burglaries.

However, the head of the service, who has been in post for three years, says he is not complacent.