Chief Constable fortnightly update to the Police and Crime Commissioner - 10 October 2025

Dear Police and Crime Commissioner, Philip Wilkinson,

I could not begin this letter without referencing the appalling terrorist attack on a synagogue in Manchester last week.

The attack on the Jewish community on Yom Kippur – the holiest day in the Jewish calendar - has understandably caused widespread distress to so many of our communities. My thoughts remain with the families and friends who lost loved ones and the members of all our Jewish communities across the country who will no doubt have been left feeling extremely scared and vulnerable. 

We are so fortunate to have many multi-cultural communities across Wiltshire so I have no doubt that many in our county will feel a sense of vulnerability at these times. In the immediate aftermath of the attack, our local policing teams worked diligently to reach out to our communities, and we increased our policing presence to provide reassurance.

I would like to publicly thank my officers, staff and volunteers who have provided support and additional opportunities for our communities to engage with us during this time. 

I am always thankful of how our communities support each other and how welcome they make Wiltshire Police teams feel. I would encourage anyone wishing to make contact with their local Neighbourhood Policing Team to reach out to them via the Your Area section of our website.

Next week is National Hate Crime Awareness Week.

Nobody should ever be targeted or subjected to abuse on the grounds of their race, religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity or disability and we will always take a zero-tolerance approach to hate crime. 

We remain completely focused on supporting victims and I would encourage anyone who has been subjected to any form of hate crime to report it to us or one of our partner agencies. You can find out more information on how to report hate crimes here.

In Wiltshire, we have seen a 36% increase in the overall volume of reported hate crimes in the last three months, with the increase mainly being reported in crimes linked to racial and sexual orientation. Whilst I am pleased that victims are feeling more confident to report these crimes to us, I am determined to continue to enhance our governance of this and provide a more consistent service to victims.

To this end, Chief Inspector Ricky Lee now chairs weekly meetings where he discusses any new hate crime reports which have been made, ensures the right level of scrutiny is being applied to our enquiries and, moreover, that we are providing the best possible service to victims. 

Our commitment to robustly dealing with offenders is reflected in our hate crime conviction rates which, for the period between October 2024 to September 2025, was 87.29% compared to a national average of 85.55%. 

The satisfaction rates of our hate crime victims have also significantly increased from 65.6% in February this year to 77.2% in August. I hope this again reflects our commitment and consistency when investigating hate crime and the increasing trust and confidence our communities have in us.

Since I arrived here in Wiltshire, I have made it clear that Equality, Diversity and Inclusion should feature as a central pillar to our policing approach. To this end, our new five-year Culture and Inclusion Strategy will shortly be published to our communities. 

This strategy, which has been developed by our workforce and members of our Independent Advisory Groups (IAGs), sets out our ambition for the future and the tangible delivery outcomes our communities will see and can measure us on. 

Last week, I was honoured to attend the National Black Police Association’s annual conference in London alongside Detective Chief Superintendent Guy Elkins and members of our Wiltshire Ethnic Police Association Staff Support Network. 

The focus of this crucial event was on police accountability, building trust and ensuring fairness and justice for all.

This is essential in ensuring the legitimacy of policing in England and Wales and I addressed this in the extraordinary letter to you last week following the BBC Panorama programme.

Alongside our organisational efforts, it is important that we celebrate individual achievements in this space. I am delighted to share that Dave Grainger, one of our Contact Centre Operators, recently received national recognition for his work representing police staff and officers with disabilities, health conditions and neurodiversity. Dave was awarded the Staff Member with Diverse Abilities Award at the National Disabled Police Association Awards last month. This is a significant achievement, and I am incredibly proud of Dave and the work he does within the force and in our communities to help those with neurodivergent conditions and other disabilities. You can read more about Dave’s recent success here.

Luke Newton, who has worked in our Crime and Communications Centre for 10 years, has had his achievements recognised nationally, after being shortlisted in the final two for a British Association for Supported Employment (BASE) award. 

This prestigious award celebrates inspirational individuals with disabilities, and Luke’s nomination is a significant achievement for both him and Wiltshire Police. Luke joined our organisation in 2016 through the Down’s Syndrome Association employment programme.

I met with Luke on Wednesday, alongside his line manager Amy Outlaw and Roy Perrett from the Down’s Syndrome Association’s Workfit scheme to congratulate him on being shortlisted. Luke will find out if he is successful at an awards event in London in November. Luke will be joined by his family and our Chief Officer Group member and Head of Corporate Communication and Public Engagement Scott McPherson. Scott is also running the London Marathon next year for the Down’s Syndrome Association in tribute to his nephew Sonny. 

Yesterday, our communities would have seen the proactive statement I made upon the conclusion of a former police staff member’s disciplinary hearing linked to a series of safeguarding failings.

The hearing concluded that Gavin Hudson’s failures within our Clare’s Law process put women at continued risk of domestic abuse and that he would have been dismissed for gross misconduct had he not resigned.

These critical service failures resulted in at least three women being subsequently harmed. Had we provided them with the right information, this might have been prevented.

I would encourage our communities to read my full statement which details the significant changes and improvements we’ve made following these serious failures. This includes us strengthening the oversight and leadership for the Domestic Abuse Safeguarding Team, appointing more Clare’s Law specialists and introducing more robust policies.

We are ensuring that everyone within our organisation understands their role in tackling domestic abuse – this has included us dedicating the month of October to an internal domestic abuse awareness raising campaign.

As I have said from the moment we were alerted to this issue, I am so very sorry for our failure to protect people from harm.

You can read my full statement here.

Finally, I have often shared updates on the work we are doing to enhance the relationship between policing and young people. As the National Police Chief Council’s (NPCC) lead for this portfolio, this is an area of policing I am incredibly passionate about.

I wanted to appraise our communities of some exciting work happening in this area.

Earlier this week, the BBC’s File on 4 Investigates programme focused on the incredible work of the Swindon Youth Justice Service – of which we are a proud partner. The service, which tackles issues that might lead young people to offending behaviour, was recently rated as Outstanding by HM Inspectorate of Probation. You can read the full story here.

On Monday 20 October, I will be hosting the NPCC Children and Young Persons Portfolio conference in Swindon. In addition to hosting speakers from a range of children’s charities and organisations, we will be using the event to officially launch the national Children and Young People (CYP) Charter. This will accompany the NPCC CYP Policing Strategy aiming to improve how police serve children and young people. Based on principles of ‘Your trust, Your voice, Your future’, it will include a resource of tactical activities to aid forces become more child-centred

Last week, my regular Facebook Live event was focused on Children and Young People, and it was wonderful to see such engagement on this topic from the public. Many of the questions raised focused on how we recognise children who might be vulnerable or at risk, so I was delighted to be joined by Detective Superintendent Joe Garrity who outlined our approach to safeguarding children. There is raft of information available for parents, guardians and professionals on our website. In May, Sgt Gemma Rutter also published an open letter to parents to ensure they had access to the available advice and support if they are concerned their child is at risk. This letter has been circulated on our behalf by schools across the county

I’m thrilled that we will once again host Scouts from across Wiltshire in an interactive day as part of the Wiltshire Police Scout Challenge Badge this Sunday. The Scouts will be faced with a range of challenging activities aimed at giving them a realistic view of police work. Scouts, like many other youth organisations, embody everything we value in policing, from leadership and resilience to a commitment to helping others and I know this event will empower these young people to make choices that benefit their future.

Kindest regards to you,

Catherine Roper

Chief Constable, Wiltshire Police