Questions raised over river safety and emergency response times in Thames Valley

Questions have been asked about how fast Thames Valley Police can get to emergencies on the rivers – given its lack of a marine unit of its own.

The safety of waterways is a hot topic in the region, given some high-profile deaths of teenagers in the Jubilee River.

Police marine units have multiple uses, including search and rescue support.

But TVP doesn’t have its own dedicated marine unit. Instead, it shares one with Hampshire Constabulary, as part of a Joint Operations Unit (JOU).

The arrangement allows the exchange of several types of units, though it means Thames Valley doesn’t have boats sitting locally near the Thames. Rather, these are on Hampshire’s patch.

At a Police and Crime Panel on Friday (September 12), councillors from various local authorities in Thames Valley had concerns about the impact of boats coming from further away, especially during ‘the worst parts of summer when tragedies occur.’

Karen Rowland, Reading council’s lead councillor for environmental services and community safety, said it seemed strange that, despite all the waterways coursing through Thames Valley, the force didn’t have its own boats.

“There are things that happen daily in our rivers across Thames Valley where we need quick operations,” she said.

“Can we really get boats [and] people on the water when we need them?”

Cllr Rowland also voiced her ‘frustrations’ regarding the management of the waterways and being ‘passed from pillar to post’ trying to find answers over improvements.

The Environment Agency enforces safety regulations and maintains infrastructure such as bridges and riverbanks.

Cllr Rowland decried the struggle in trying to get police and the EA in the same meetings – and implored closer working between the EA, police, councils, and the Canal and River Trust.

Meanwhile, Cllr Stuart Wilson from Buckinghamshire Council (Ind, Flackwell Heath & The Wooburns) echoed marine unit concerns, especially underwater search and recovery teams.

He stressed the importance of the ‘golden hour principle’, which says that emergency action in that first hour can mean the difference between saving a life or not.

Cllr Wilson said it worried him that units must travel tens of miles to get to incidents – and said he thought there should be a ‘nearest first’ policy, as seen in the fire service, where the stations nearest an incident will respond.

Replying, Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Matthew Barber said he understood the concerns about the availability of the marine unit – but that this would exist no matter where it was based. Training days or maintenance could take it out of action, for example.

He also said the marine unit ‘can be deployed really quickly’ when need be.

“The alternative to having use of a Hampshire unit would be we have our own marine unit. I haven’t costed that, but it would be a significant expense,” he said.

“I think most people would rather make sure we keep that really good neighbourhood team in the town centre[s] who are nicking the shoplifters.”

He gave his assurance that other forces’ underwater search teams were used where required in critical incidents and that there is a push from the Home Office for more collaboration on specialist teams.

“The joint operation unit is one of the great strengths of the Thames Valley Hampshire Partnership,” continued Mr Barber.

“It means that we have much greater capability in terms of firearms… horses [and] dogs.

“A lot of forces don’t have that at all.”