New chief constable '˜overwhelmed' by Hampshire police and staff

Speaking to The News at the force’s training headquarters in Netley after welcoming new recruits she said the force has gone through ‘difficult financial times’.

Mrs Pinkney said that has led to a need to work differently – emphasising the need to protect the vulnerable but also stop criminals before they strike.

She said: ‘We all deserve to live in a society that is free and communities that are safe, anyone who preys on others, who abuses that vulnerability of others, who creates harm, that is behaviour that is not acceptable within our communities and something that the constabulary takes very seriously.

‘Our job is to protect the vulnerable, our job is to stop offending, and to thereby protect communities.

‘If you’re already an offender our job is to stop you continuing on that journey.’

She added: ‘Hampshire Constabulary is a really high-performing police force. Everywhere I have gone both in preparation, and I’ve done a lot of preparation for this role, I’ve been overwhelmed by the professionalism, the care, the real sense of putting the public first. It oozes through from people.

‘Our job is to protect the vulnerable, our job is to protect communities, and that means preventing offending in the first place, that means catching bad people when they do bad things and it means us stopping offending happening again.’

Mrs Pinkney started the job on Monday, having previously been deputy chief constable at Sussex police.

She is taking over at a time when the force is recruiting for the first time in years, having lost hundreds of officers.

‘The constabulary has been through some difficult times, as all public sector has and continue to do financially and that does mean we need to work differently,’ Mrs Pinkney said.

‘Hampshire Constabulary 2020 is the plan for the future and that’s very much making sure we’re in a position to meet the change in demand.

‘We‘re hugely focussed on vulnerability, on threat and harm and risk.

‘And enforcement is only part of what we do.

‘So our job, if you boil it down to protecting the vulnerable and keeping communities safe, enforcement has a part of that but I would much rather stop the bad things happening in the first place than enforce.’