The OCUs vision is to provide a high quality of service to other members of Hampshire Constabulary and the public of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight by working with officers from territorial policing areas across the force.
We aim to provide specialist expertise to achieve and maximise a high level of performance.
The officers and staff of Operations and Crime OCUs support the work of colleagues from the territorial-based OCUs, and help create the force’s ‘protective services’ - providing the constabulary’s lead on counterterrorism and domestic extremism, serious organised and cross-border crime, civil contingencies and emergency planning, critical incident management, public order, and strategic roads policing.
Hampshire Constabulary is continuing its mission to develop its protective services, grow in strength as a strategic force, and provide a national centre of excellence for policy and practice in these highly specialised areas. In the future, units from the Operations OCU will be collaborating with Thames Valley Police to maximise the very best use of our resources.
Operations OCU consists of the Roads Policing Unit, Force Support Unit, Dogs and Search Support Unit, Firearms Support Unit, Operational Planning and Policy Unit, and Critical Incident Cadre.
Hampshire was the first police service in the country to introduce a Critical Incident Cadre. The cadre comprises a team of one superintendent and four chief inspectors, providing a professional level of tactical command in response to critical incidents across the two counties.
The Crime OCU contains specialist CID teams including the Scientific Services Department, Intelligence Directorate, Special Branch, Major Crime Department, Serious and Organised Crime Department, and Specialist Investigations. A Serious Crime Review Team team has been set up to ensure that the very best in investigative practices are followed and the force’s excellent record of detections in serious and major crime continues.
Crime and Operations OCU teams also strive to deliver the highest standards in criminal investigation, and in the delivery of justice to the people of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.
In addition, these teams support the work and practices of territorially based CID officers in detecting crime at a local level.
Crucial to the process of bringing offenders to justice is the Criminal Justice Department. Its structure has recently been realigned with that of the Crown Prosecution Service and court districts across the two counties to provide a corporate and consistent service.
It aims to make the criminal justice process more streamlined for all officers, and thereby increase convictions, all with a very specific focus on assisting the victims of crime.
All specialist teams can and do play a significant role in making the communities of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight safer places in which to live, work, visit, to grow up and grow old.
