Today's most viewed
| NEWS |  | | | | | OXFORD UNITED | | | | | | CRICKET | | | | | NEWS | |
|
|
|
County gets new police chief
 |
| Chief Supt Brendan O'Dowda |
Thames Valley Police today announced that Chief Supt Brendan O'Dowda has been promoted to become area commander for Oxfordshire.
The 42-year-old married father of four has spent the past 18 months as the police commander in Oxford.
He replaces former Chief Supt Shaun Morley, who retired last week.
Mr O'Dowda said: "The Oxfordshire command unit is the largest in the country, in terms of the number of officers per population, with about 630,000 people living in the county.
"I'm looking forward to embedding neighbourhood policing, including our responsiveness to community needs and tackling and reducing antisocial behaviour and other issues that blight our neighbourhoods.
"My aim is to increase the community's confidence and participation in what we do and match our response to demand, particularly around areas of risk such as domestic abuse and child abuse, as well as serious and cross-border crime.
"The command unit prides itself on high performance around how we manage our most prolific and priority offenders.
"Together with my partners, I'm looking to build upon integrated offender management in order to both reduce and detect crime, making Oxfordshire a very safe place to live, work and visit."
Mr O'Dowda joined Thames Valley Police as a cadet in 1982.
He has worked at nearly every police station in Oxfordshire since joining the force and has been an inspector on the force surveillance team, a Superintendent in Milton Keynes and was responsible for performance review at the Force headquarters in Kidlington.
2:12pm Monday 4th August 2008
Print 
Email this 
CommentPosted by: Mr Ison, England on 4:32pm Mon 4 Aug 08
Volunteered or coerced?
Posted by: k, The leys on 4:55pm Mon 4 Aug 08
Will police officers be out in the community after dark to stop?
Will police officers be out in the community after dark to stop?
Posted by: Tom on 5:20pm Mon 4 Aug 08
[quote][bold]k[/bold] wrote:
Will police officers be out in the community after dark to stop?[/quote] I doubt you would get the Sayeret Matkal to patrol "the leys" after dark.
k wrote:
Will police officers be out in the community after dark to stop?
I doubt you would get the Sayeret Matkal to patrol "the leys" after dark.
Posted by: David, wantage on 6:41pm Mon 4 Aug 08
[italic]"Together with my partners, I'm looking to build upon integrated offender management in order to both reduce and detect crime, making Oxfordshire a very safe place to live, work and visit."[/italic].
Copper or social worker?
"Together with my partners, I'm looking to build upon integrated offender management in order to both reduce and detect crime, making Oxfordshire a very safe place to live, work and visit.".
Copper or social worker?
Posted by: Mr Ison, England on 8:28pm Mon 4 Aug 08
Preamble.
Posted by: Vicki, Carterton on 9:05am Tue 5 Aug 08
NO wonder the police find it hard to do their job when this is the kind of disresepct being show towards them!
Why dont YOU join the police force if you think YOU can do a better job?
Otherwise shut the heck up and start giving the police support insteaad of finding any pathetic excuse to demoralise them.
NO wonder the police find it hard to do their job when this is the kind of disresepct being show towards them!
Why dont YOU join the police force if you think YOU can do a better job?
Otherwise shut the heck up and start giving the police support insteaad of finding any pathetic excuse to demoralise them.
Posted by: Tom on 11:34am Tue 5 Aug 08
[quote][bold]Vicki[/bold] wrote:
NO wonder the police find it hard to do their job when this is the kind of disresepct being show towards them! Why dont YOU join the police force if you think YOU can do a better job? Otherwise shut the heck up and start giving the police support insteaad of finding any pathetic excuse to demoralise them.[/quote] I saw 2 different police vehicles on sunday NOT use their indicators when turning.
The problem with the police (and society) is that they think that allowing the very small crimes like this to happen is ok.
A law is a law,no matter how small.In fact the small ones are the easiest to enforce and the most visable.
Indicator today.....theft tomorrow.....
Vicki wrote:
NO wonder the police find it hard to do their job when this is the kind of disresepct being show towards them! Why dont YOU join the police force if you think YOU can do a better job? Otherwise shut the heck up and start giving the police support insteaad of finding any pathetic excuse to demoralise them.
I saw 2 different police vehicles on sunday NOT use their indicators when turning.
The problem with the police (and society) is that they think that allowing the very small crimes like this to happen is ok.
A law is a law,no matter how small.In fact the small ones are the easiest to enforce and the most visable.
Indicator today.....theft tomorrow.....
Posted by: Mr Ison, England on 12:58pm Tue 5 Aug 08
Drinking,speeding and mugging and jay waliking and are not the only crimes.
Breaking up organized crime seems low on their agenda,probably because unlike minor breaches of the peace the organized criminals are well connected to the issuers of political correctness.
The police also know about the criminally connected Juiciary and want to retain an income.
Drinking,speeding and mugging and jay waliking and are not the only crimes.
Breaking up organized crime seems low on their agenda,probably because unlike minor breaches of the peace the organized criminals are well connected to the issuers of political correctness.
The police also know about the criminally connected Juiciary and want to retain an income.
Posted by: Peter, Oxford on 11:33pm Tue 5 Aug 08
[quote][bold]Vicki[/bold] wrote:
NO wonder the police find it hard to do their job when this is the kind of disresepct being show towards them!
Why dont YOU join the police force if you think YOU can do a better job?
Otherwise shut the heck up and start giving the police support insteaad of finding any pathetic excuse to demoralise them.[/quote] I'd show a policeman some respect if I saw one! I can tell you I saw tonight at least 6 cars with only one break light. Used to be, that if you had only one break light, you got pulled over and fined or given a 10 day wonder to sort it out... One break light is one away from none, which is the start of a serious accident... Pottentialy loss of life...
More coppers on the beat, more precence, more getting back to Basic Policing is needed. Otherwise, all this talk of anti-social behaviour orders is nothing more than veneer.. A cheap one at that...
Vicki wrote:
NO wonder the police find it hard to do their job when this is the kind of disresepct being show towards them!
Why dont YOU join the police force if you think YOU can do a better job?
Otherwise shut the heck up and start giving the police support insteaad of finding any pathetic excuse to demoralise them.
I'd show a policeman some respect if I saw one! I can tell you I saw tonight at least 6 cars with only one break light. Used to be, that if you had only one break light, you got pulled over and fined or given a 10 day wonder to sort it out... One break light is one away from none, which is the start of a serious accident... Pottentialy loss of life...
More coppers on the beat, more precence, more getting back to Basic Policing is needed. Otherwise, all this talk of anti-social behaviour orders is nothing more than veneer.. A cheap one at that...
Posted by: Sharon, Kidlington on 1:42pm Wed 6 Aug 08
Speaking from personal experience, a lovely man. He and his wife are genuine people - his children reflect this. I'm totally sceptical of authority as a rule, but can believe that this man has the vision, drive and heart to help Oxfordshire. Money very well spent!
Speaking from personal experience, a lovely man. He and his wife are genuine people - his children reflect this. I'm totally sceptical of authority as a rule, but can believe that this man has the vision, drive and heart to help Oxfordshire. Money very well spent!
Posted by: D.Isenchanted, Dystopia on 3:02pm Thu 7 Aug 08
Doubtful - he is a policeman after all.
His main focus will be, as usual, the easy targets i.e motorists. Whilst real criminals will walk away scott free as usual.
Doubtful - he is a policeman after all.
His main focus will be, as usual, the easy targets i.e motorists. Whilst real criminals will walk away scott free as usual.
Posted by: pete, oxford on 5:53pm Thu 7 Aug 08
So some of you want the Police to crack down on the drivers who do not indicate as this leads to other crimes, and others think they enforce them too much as the easy option? See what the police are up against? They can't please everybody and they have a really difficult job to do.
So some of you want the Police to crack down on the drivers who do not indicate as this leads to other crimes, and others think they enforce them too much as the easy option? See what the police are up against? They can't please everybody and they have a really difficult job to do.
Posted by: Paul on 8:45am Tue 12 Aug 08
You are twisting that slightly. What people want is a more visible police pressence. Some patrol cars doing their rounds, picking up on dodgy cars who are maybe on thier way back from doing dodgy things. Most disqualified drivers are picked up because of faulty drive lights! What we have now is a "blitz" where someone tries to roundup all the bad guys in one morning. Bad guy gets a text message telling him to avoid a certian road, he lives to drive uninsured another day! Where as a regular patrol car would perhaps pick him up sooner!
When Community Police officers were mentioned, we were told they would be patroling the streets. Look at the job requirements on their own recruitment site and you will see it says "must be fit for long patrols"... What happened to that?
All the PCO's got tied up with problem famileys, becoming social worker case offericers for a small minorty...
When was the last time you saw a PCSO? when was the last time you saw a patrol car? When was the last time you saw a british bobby on the street? That is one who is not just popping into the local takeaway on his lunch break!
Where have all the police gone? Where?
We want more police on the streets, and not just on a Saturday night, we want to see them in the day so that my Mother can walk the streets WITHOUT having her bag snatched, as happened recently!
A bobby on the lookout, or a PCSO wandering by might have been enough to send the bag snatchers home...
So, my advice to this new guy would be, don't play poltics, just get some PSCO's out on the street as promised and some patrol cars out snaring illegal drivers on a more regular basis than a once a month Traffic check!
You are twisting that slightly. What people want is a more visible police pressence. Some patrol cars doing their rounds, picking up on dodgy cars who are maybe on thier way back from doing dodgy things. Most disqualified drivers are picked up because of faulty drive lights! What we have now is a "blitz" where someone tries to roundup all the bad guys in one morning. Bad guy gets a text message telling him to avoid a certian road, he lives to drive uninsured another day! Where as a regular patrol car would perhaps pick him up sooner!
When Community Police officers were mentioned, we were told they would be patroling the streets. Look at the job requirements on their own recruitment site and you will see it says "must be fit for long patrols"... What happened to that?
All the PCO's got tied up with problem famileys, becoming social worker case offericers for a small minorty...
When was the last time you saw a PCSO? when was the last time you saw a patrol car? When was the last time you saw a british bobby on the street? That is one who is not just popping into the local takeaway on his lunch break!
Where have all the police gone? Where?
We want more police on the streets, and not just on a Saturday night, we want to see them in the day so that my Mother can walk the streets WITHOUT having her bag snatched, as happened recently!
A bobby on the lookout, or a PCSO wandering by might have been enough to send the bag snatchers home...
So, my advice to this new guy would be, don't play poltics, just get some PSCO's out on the street as promised and some patrol cars out snaring illegal drivers on a more regular basis than a once a month Traffic check!
What are these links for?
If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content we've made it easy for you to do it.
At the bottom of all articles, you'll see links to six sites. These sites - commonly called 'social bookmark' or 'social news' sites - have large communities of web users who share and rate interesting, useful and fun things on the web.
Clicking the links will automatically add the address of the story you are reading to one of these sites, letting you share it with others. Each site will ask you to register to share stories. Registration is free and once a member, you can store, recommend and search for stories that interest you.
More on Digg
More on del.icio.us
More on Furl
More on reddit
More on NowPublic/
More on Yahoo!
