Bedfordshire’s new top cop promises to make county safer for all

Bedfordshire Police’s new chief constable said his vision is to make the county a safe place for all of its communities.

During the Bedfordshire Police and Crime Panel Chief Constable’s confirmation hearing on Monday (12 December), the preferred candidate for Police and Crime Commissioner set out his vision for Bedfordshire Police

The candidate, Acting Chief Constable Trevor Rodenhurst, said his vision was: “To provide a quality police service that consistently provides all Bedfordshire communities with a place of safety, is tough on crime and an employer of choice for all people and in doing so we will innovate.” , restorative and inclusive.

“A safe place for me is to walk the streets of Bedfordshire safely, but it is also safe to be in your own home, and for our children to be safe in an online world.

“Hard on crime, that has certain connotations in some communities that might carry some sort of notion of disproportionate use of police powers, it’s not,” he said.

“It’s the fact that we have some challenges with crime and most things are going in the right direction.

“The reason I am making this statement is because of these 400 students [officers] are on the one hand right here and now, they are a challenge to get them operationally where they need to be,” he said.

unanimous support

Panel members unanimously supported the recommendation by Bedfordshire Police and Crime Commissioner Festus Akinbusoye to appoint Mr Rodenhurst today (14 December).

Mr Akinbusoye added: “I am delighted that members of the Bedfordshire Police and Crime Panel have voted to support my recommendation of Trevor Rodenhurst as our new Chief Constable.

“Bedfordshire Police are on a journey from being rated as one of the underperforming forces a few years ago to being among the best by His Majesty’s Inspectorate this year. Trevor has been an integral part of this turnaround, and despite the longstanding challenges that lie ahead, he is the right leader the force needs now.

“I look forward to working with our newly appointed Chief Constable and assisting him in our shared focus on fighting crime, preventing harm and supporting crime victims in our urban, rural and market communities across the county.”

During his hearing before the panel, the then-acting Chief Constable told the panel that by January the force’s officers would number 400 student police officers.

“They are the future, and when they become operational, we will have a greater deployable asset,” he said.

“So you would expect Bedfordshire Police to be tougher on crime,” he said.

“My background is that I’m a career detective, I’ve spent much of my career focusing on challenging crime problems and I want us to be very, very rigorous about that.

“Finally, I want us to be representative of the community in terms of the people we bring into ministry and also the people who thrive in it.

“So that is a summary of my vision and there are a number of focus areas that I need to execute on.

“One is our employees and the other is the performance, especially the system performance with our partners.

“We cannot provide a public service to Bedfordshire as a single authority, we must work together.

“This includes some issues with system productivity, which for me means having the right care for the right people and the right organization for the right people in the right circumstances,” he said.

Commenting on his appointment, the new Chief Constable added: “I am delighted to have had the support of the Police and Crime Panel who support my vision of how I want to lead this fantastic force and continue to improve our service to the people of Bedfordshire and makes it a safe place for everyone.

“I firmly believe in the power of joint efforts and will seek to build on the excellent relationships we have with our three local authorities, health and blue light services.

“As a partnership we can do much more and I am very keen to continue this team Bedfordshire approach, which includes working closely with all of our communities to solve problems together and better prevent crime.”

by John Guinn, Local Democracy Service,
and Paul Hutchinson for the Bedford Independent