Bracknell

Bracknell LPA Commander Supt Rob Povey has moved to Thames Valley Police headquarters in Kidlington, Oxfordshire to work on a productivity project.

Supt Povey has worked in Bracknell for a total of eight years. He has been a police officer for 22 years and received a long service medal in 2006.

His career in the police began in Newbury, where he became an operational police constable in 1984. He was promoted to sergeant in Reading in 1991, and became an inspector in Bracknell in 1996.

Supt Povey then worked as a shift inspector, sector inspector, community safety inspector and as detective inspector in charge of the proactive team, before being promoted to chief inspector operations at Slough in 2002. He returned to Bracknell as a superintendent in January 2005.

He said: “I have thoroughly enjoyed the last two and a half years working in Bracknell. It is an excellent community, and people really work together to help reduce crime and make Bracknell a safer place. The partner organisations in Bracknell Forest have a great relationship with each other, and a can-do attitude. There is a real will to succeed and this can be demonstrated in a significant fall in crime so far this year.

“Bracknell has recently seen many exciting initiatives including the introduction of neighbourhood policing. We now have more neighbourhood officers than ever before, as well as a number of Police Community Support Officers (PCSO’s), with more to join over the next year.

“We have also seen the introduction of the Take Pride campaign, which was launched by painting over the graffiti at the top of the former 3M building. Police volunteers are carrying out many roles in the community, tackling speeding motorists, cleaning up graffiti and undertaking environmental improvements.”

One of Supt Povey’s last tasks in Bracknell will be to take part in the Thames Valley Police Rowathon in Bracknell town centre on Friday and Saturday (8-9/6). He will be one of a team of 25 officers rowing continuously for 24 hours in aid of Sebastian’s Action Trust, a local charity which aims to provide a holiday home for terminally ill children. The team aims to row the equivalent distance from Bracknell to Lands End, which is 270 miles.

Ch Insp Simon Bowden is now LPA Commander of Bracknell Forest. Deputy LPA Commander is Insp Michael Squire, who is also neighbourhood inspector for Bracknell south. Neighbourhood inspector for Bracknell North is A/Insp Charlie Winter.

Thames Valley Police ~ Bracknell