WHEN Thames Valley Police opened its doors to the cameras 16 years ago, horrified viewers saw detectives browbeating a woman into dropping an allegation of rape.

As a direct result of the documentary series called The Police, officers nationwide changed the way they interviewed women complaining of the offence.

The Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police, Charles Pollard, was not in charge when viewers were given the startling insight into 1980s police methods in Roger Graef's 11-part series.

When the BBC approached the force last year, Mr Pollard was happy to give cameras access to his officers for a new four-part series.

The Force concludes tonight with an episode focusing on restorative justice, where offenders, victims and their families are brought together for conferences.

During these meetings led by police officers, offenders are forced to confront the harm they have caused.

Thames Valley Police was singled out by the BBC as an ideal force to focus on because it is leading the way in new methods of policing, with restorative justice being a perfect example. Agreeing to expose his officers to the scrutiny of film-makers is indicative of Mr Pollard's pledge to reduce crime by "problem-solving policing."

This entails working with different groups in the community so that a number of agencies are working together to beat crime. Allowing the cameras in is indicative of that approach.

Shortly after the six months of filming was completed at the end of last year, Mr Pollard said: "The overriding consideration is that the public should see what we are doing."

Now that the programmes have been broadcast, his views remain unchanged, and he is pleased that the series has generated a large amount of mail, not all of it uncritical.

He said: "There is always a risk when you hand over control to another organisation and that was demonstrated with the 1982 series when a number of officers appeared unprofessional.

"In spite of that, the last series was a catalyst for change and that was very important. We are getting a big mailbag as a result of the current series and that is very healthy.

"Modern policing methods are constantly changing and periodically it is very important for the public to be aware of them."

Previous news story

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.